AI veteran Jeff Dean leaves after 27 years, co-founding a new company with three top scientists; Alphabet (GOOGL.US) shares plummet over 4%.

According to the Zhitongcaijing APP, Googles parent company Alphabet (GOOGL.US, GOOG.US) announced a significant leadership reshuffle in its AI business on Wednesday. Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind and a Nobel Prize winner, will step down from daily management duties to take up the newly established position of Chief Scientist at Alphabet and Chairman of Google DeepMind. Meanwhile, several core technology leaders, including AI veteran Jeff Dean, have announced their departure to start a new artificial intelligence company called Discovery Loop.