Ex-DeepMind researchers ditch Google to speed up AI innovation with Uncharted Labs

Three former Google DeepMind researchers recently left the company to form their own AI startup called Uncharted Labs. The team consists of David Ding, Charlie Nash, and Yaroslav Ganin, who previously worked on Google's generative AI systems for images and music, such as Imagen and Lyria, reports The Information. Ding led a 30-person research team at Deepmind. The New York-based Uncharted Labs has already raised $8.5 million of its $10 million goal. According to The Information, the departure is related to Google's slow translation of AI research into products and bureaucratic hurdles within the tech company, which would have been exacerbated by the Deepmind merger. Other startups with Google alumni include Character AI, French LLM phenomenon Mistral, Sakana AI, and Reka AI.