Alphabet Drops 5% After 2 Top AI Researchers Defect to Rivals
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Jun 22
Alphabet Drops 5% After 2 Top AI Researchers Defect to Rivals
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Jun 22
Summary
Alphabet closed down about 5% Monday—its worst day in more than a year—as investors reacted to mounting AI worries and fresh talent losses at Google.
Two departures sharpened those concerns: Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer left for OpenAI on Wednesday, and DeepMind executive John Jumper left for Anthropic on Friday after nine years at Google.
The selloff also followed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's weekend warning that AI was becoming commoditized, a threat to Google's strategy after it raised $141 billion in debt and equity since October to fund AI.
Google had just rolled out Gemini 3.5 Flash and the Gemini Spark agent at I/O, leaving investors to question whether its vertically integrated AI stack can still deliver durable returns as models get cheaper and more interchangeable.