Meta pulled 22 researchers in 2025; a year later Google DeepMind was the lab losing people

Asked:

“Which AI researchers moved between frontier labs since 2025? For each move list the researcher, the lab they left, where they went and the approximate date”

42 publicly reported, multi-source-corroborated moves between frontier-model labs from January 2025 through September 2026, covering 38 named researchers (four moved twice). This is a best-effort inventory of publicly reported moves — quiet or undisclosed moves are absent — drawn from 27 independent source hosts.

Meta's mid-2025 wave was the single largest pattern: 22 of the 23 Meta-bound moves landed in 2025, 15 of them straight from OpenAI, most announced in June–July as Superintelligence Labs formed. cnbc.com
In 2026 the flow reversed toward Anthropic and OpenAI: six Google DeepMind departures, four of them to Anthropic — including AlphaFold's John Jumper — mostly in June 2026. chatforest.com
Four researchers moved twice: Avi Verma and Ethan Knight joined Meta in July 2025 and left for OpenAI within weeks; Huiwen Chang reached Meta via both Google DeepMind and OpenAI reporting; Barret Zoph left Thinking Machines for OpenAI, then OpenAI for Google. wired.com
Thinking Machines Lab lost four researchers to Meta and OpenAI between October 2025 and January 2026, including its CTO Barret Zoph. implicator.ai

Every reported move

ResearcherLab leftLab joinedApprox. dateResearch area / contextSource

Method: 42 publicly reported researcher moves between frontier-model labs, January 2025 – September 2026, one row per reported researcher / lab-left / lab-joined combination, compiled from broad web reporting across news, trade press and specialist publications (27 distinct hosts; no single URL backs more than half the rows). Included: technical researchers, research engineers and technical research leads moving directly between labs training frontier general-purpose models. Excluded: product and policy hires, universities, and moves without a frontier lab at both ends. Dates are approximate and generally the reported joining or announcement month; two rows carry only a year. Corroborating-host counts are an evidence-strength cue only. Employer branding is retained as sourced (e.g. Meta vs Meta Platforms Inc.); the chart merges Meta brandings into one lane and Google into the Google DeepMind lane.

This report was generated automatically by Keenable SELECT at a user's request, from publicly available web sources linked herein. Keenable does not review, verify, or endorse its contents and makes no representation as to accuracy, completeness, or timeliness; AI-based extraction may contain errors. Nothing in this report is investment, legal, financial, or other professional advice. All trademarks and referenced content remain the property of their respective owners; no affiliation or endorsement is implied. To report an error, rights concern, or request removal: legal@keenable.ai.

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