John Jumper, the scientist behind the breakthrough AI system AlphaFold, has announced that he is leaving Google DeepMind and heading to AI startup Anthropic after taking some time off to recharge.

In a post on X, Jumper reflected on his nearly nine years at Google DeepMind, calling it a rewarding chapter in his career. He thanked DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis for giving him the chance to lead the AlphaFold project just months after finishing his PhD.

Jumper said the opportunity helped shape him as a researcher and credited his colleagues at DeepMind for teaching him how to pursue ambitious scientific work.

His move comes as competition for top AI talent continues to heat up. Leading companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Meta have been racing to attract some of the industry’s most influential researchers as the AI sector grows increasingly competitive.

Jumper played a key role in developing AlphaFold, an AI system that transformed biology by predicting protein structures with unprecedented accuracy. The technology has produced predictions for more than 200 million protein structures, giving scientists around the world a powerful resource for research and drug discovery.

The impact of AlphaFold earned global recognition. In 2024, Jumper shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Demis Hassabis and David Baker for their contributions to solving one of biology’s long-standing challenges.

Reacting to the news, Hassabis praised Jumper’s work and highlighted the lasting impact of AlphaFold on science and medicine. He said the project showed how artificial intelligence could help drive major scientific breakthroughs.

Anthropic and Jumper have not yet disclosed what role he will take on at the company. Still, his arrival is expected to boost Anthropic’s growing focus on scientific research and AI-driven discovery.

As he signed off from DeepMind, Jumper described the lab as a special place and said he would continue following its future achievements with great interest.

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