- Google has added the cofounder of its DeepMindartificial intelligence unit to its own internal AI team.
- Mustafa Suleyman, who cofounded DeepMind with Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg, took a temporary leave from the firm earlier this year.
- His move to Google ends speculation that he planned to quit both DeepMind and Google altogether.
- Google acquired DeepMind for 400 million pounds in 2014, and the firm remains headquartered in London and a research-oriented entity.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Google has added the cofounder of its UK-based DeepMind artificial intelligence research unit to its own AI team.
Mustafa Suleyman confirmed the news on Twitter on Thursday, saying that he would join Google policy chief Kent Walker and Jeff Dean, the senior vice president of Google AI, in January.
"After a wonderful decade at DeepMind, I'm very excited to announce that I'll be joining @Kent_Walker, @JeffDean and the fantastic team at Google to work on opportunities & impacts of applied AI technologies," Suleyman said in his tweet. "Can't wait to get going! More in Jan as I start the new job!"
Suleyman will be working on AI policy issues for Google, a company representative told Business Insider. The representative did not say what Suleyman's title will be.
In tweets, both Walker and Dean welcomed Suleyman to Google.
Meanwhile, in a blog post, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis praised Suleyman's work with the unit. Google and parent company Alphabet are increasingly incorporating DeepMind's AI work into their other divisions, thanks in large part to Suleyman's efforts, he said.
"Mustafa played a key role over the past decade helping to get DeepMind off the ground, and launched a series of innovative collaborations with Google to reduce energy consumption in data centres, improve Android battery performance, optimise Google Play, and find ways to improve the lives of patients, nurses and doctors alike," Hassabis wrote.
Suleyman also helped spearhead the company's controversial health division. Two years ago, that division was found to have improperly obtained access to the health records of 1.6 million UK patients.
After Suleyman announced a temporary leave from DeepMind earlier this year, there was speculation he might quit the company and Google altogether. That move coincided with Google's announcement that it would absorb part of DeepMind's health-focused operations into its own broader healthcare unit, Google Health.
Suleyman founded DeepMind in 2010 with Hassabis and Shane Legg. Google acquired the company for 400 million pounds ($486 million) in 2014.
SEE ALSO: The cofounder of Google's AI company DeepMind hit back at 'speculation' over his leave of absence
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: Inside the US government's top-secret bioweapons lab