Eleven labs trace back to Google DeepMind — and the whole field to a handful of doors

Asked:

“Chart which AI labs were founded by people who left which other labs — a founder family tree”

A curated, source-backed map of 33 documented founder-lineage edges linking 9 parent labs to 27 distinct child labs founded between 2015 and 2026 (through 2026-08-31). An edge means at least one founder previously worked at the parent lab — not a formal corporate spinout — so a founding team can create several incoming edges.

Ribbon colour follows the parent lab. Node height = number of lineage edges touching the lab. Hover a lab or ribbon for founders, year and citation.
Chains to read: Google Brain / Google AI → OpenAI → Anthropic → Humans&, Ricursive, Mirendil · Google Brain → Adept → Essential AI · Cohere → Adaption Labs.

Who spawned the most labs

Every documented edge

Parent	Child lab	Year	Founders from parent	Pages	Source

Curated founder-lineage map, not an exhaustive census: 33 parent→child edges over 27 child labs, researched through 2026-08-31. Inclusion means at least one founder previously worked at the parent lab; Google Brain / Google AI is kept distinct from Google DeepMind because they were separate organizations for much of the period. Major labs and foundation-model companies are emphasized; generic vertical AI startups are mostly excluded. Most edges were supported by at least two pages in the scan; the link on each row is a representative citation.