Background
John Jumper, a researcher at Google DeepMind and co‑creator of the AlphaFold artificial‑intelligence system that earned the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has been instrumental in predicting over 200 million protein structures, a contribution credited with accelerating biological and medical research.
Announcement
In a post on X on Friday, 20 June 2026, Jumper announced that after nearly nine years at Google DeepMind he will leave the Alphabet‑owned lab to join Anthropic. He stated, “After nearly nine years, I have decided to leave Google DeepMind and join Anthropic.”
Role and Tenure
At the time of his departure Jumper held the positions of vice president and engineering fellow at Google DeepMind, as reflected on his LinkedIn profile.
Anthropic Details
Anthropic, an AI startup, is preparing to host a science‑focused event on 30 June 2026. The company has not commented on the specific role Jumper will assume.
Reactions
Demis Hassabis, chief executive of Google DeepMind and Jumper’s Nobel‑Prize co‑recipient, praised Jumper’s contributions and described AlphaFold’s impact on scientific and medical research as “transformative.” Google DeepMind issued a statement thanking Jumper for his contributions and wishing him well in his next chapter. In his announcement, Jumper described DeepMind as a “special place” and expressed continued excitement about the organization’s future discoveries.
Industry Context
The move follows recent high‑profile AI talent shifts, notably Noam Shazeer, Google’s vice president of engineering and co‑lead of the Gemini AI models, who announced his departure to join OpenAI. Technology firms including Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic are competing aggressively to recruit leading AI researchers.
Market Reaction
Following the news, Alphabet’s shares (GOOGL) rose 1.17 %, Meta’s shares (META) rose 1.70 %, while Anthropic (ANTP) and OpenAI (OAI) showed no immediate price change.