Ex-OpenAI researcher Barret Zoph returns to Google DeepMind for RL and post-training
On August 27, former OpenAI researcher Barret Zoph personally announced joining Google DeepMind to focus on reinforcement learning and post-training. Multiple authors then relayed the news. His AI career began in the Google Brain Residency program, making this a return to Google. The same day, researcher Arthur Colle announced joining DeepMind in the same focus area.
Confirmed
- Zoph announced the move on August 27 via his own post (m1); more than a dozen authors subsequently reshared or independently reported it.
- He started in Google Brain Residency, later worked at OpenAI, and said Google offers unique resources and opportunities for RL and post-training research.
- Per Kate Clark's relay, Zoph will join as VP of Research at DeepMind; he previously left Google for OpenAI, co-founded Thinking Machines Lab (TML), and briefly returned to OpenAI. QbitAI reported he was TML's co-founder and CTO and pioneered neural architecture search (NAS).
- Per @niloofarmire, Zoph was previously an OpenAI research lead and co-lead of the Sora team.
- The same day, researcher Arthur Colle (@arthurcolle) announced joining Google DeepMind, also starting from Google Brain Residency and focusing on RL and post-training.
Unconfirmed
- Titles such as "VP of Research" and "OpenAI research lead / Sora co-lead" come from relay posts and were not directly confirmed in Zoph's own post; accounts of his prior title vary.
Why it matters
- Zoph is a significant RL and post-training researcher; his move from OpenAI to DeepMind continues the recent trend of OpenAI talent flowing to competitors and may affect the post-training capabilities race.
- Multiple researchers with similar backgrounds joining DeepMind the same day, all focused on RL and post-training, signals Google is strengthening its talent position in this area.
2026-08-27 ~ 2026-08-28 · 16 related posts
Primary sources
- [source] Former OpenAI researcher Barret Zoch joins Google DeepMind — barret_zoph · 2026-08-27
- [source] Researcher Arthur Colle joins Google DeepMind to focus on RL and Post-Training — arthurcolle · 2026-08-27
- [source] Barret Zoph Returns to Google DeepMind Amidst Intense AI Talent Wars — 量子位 · 2026-08-28
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