Google confirms Cloud AI chief will be replaced by Carnegie Mellon’s Andrew Moore

Dr. Fei-Fei Li, an associate professor at Stanford and Google’s chief AI scientist, speaks on an AI panel at the 2018 Next conference.Greg Sandoval/Business Insider

• Google Cloud chief Diane Greene announced in a blog post that Dr. Fei-Fei Li will return to her professorship at Stanford and Google Cloud AI’s new leader will be Dr. Andrew Moore, of Carnegie Mellon University.
• In June, Business Insider reported that Li, the well-known AI researcher and ethicist, would return to Stanford at the end of the year but planned to stay connected to the company. Greene said in her blog post that Li will become an AI and machine learning advisor to Google. 
• The most notable event of Li’s nearly two-year tenure at Google was likely the leaked email exchange between her and other Google managers that some said showed she worried more about the company’s public image than the ethical concerns surrounding Google’s military contracts. 

Dr. Fei-Fei Li will be replaced at the end of the year as head of Google Cloud AI by Dr. Andrew Moore, dean of the school of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, Google announced on Monday.

Diane Greene, the CEO of Google Cloud, made the announcement in a blog post. Li, a well-known expert in artificial intelligence, was on leave from Stanford for nearly two years. She had always planned to return, according to a Google spokesman.

Diane Greene, Google Cloud CEOGreg Sandoval/Business Insider

In June, Business Insider reported that Google planned to keep Li on in some capacity. On Monday, Green said in her blog post that even after Li returns to Stanford, she will remain an AI and machine learning advisor to Google cloud. Geekwire was first to report on Greene’s blog post Monday.

You can read more about Li and her time at Google here.

Greene, reflecting on the AI researcher’s time at Google, wrote that Li “has built a tremendous team and together they have innovated and done a remarkable job of accelerating the adoption of AI and (machine learning) by developers and Google Cloud customers.”

Though Li’s departure was scheduled, it doesn’t change the fact that there’s been a lot of turnover at Google’s cloud division in recent months. In August, Bogomil Balkansky, Google’s VP of cloud recruiting solutions and someone who had worked with Greene for years, left the company. But the most notable and head-scratching change of course was the departure of Diane Bryant.

Bryant, the longtime Intel exec, lasted at Google barely seven months before she resigned. Nonetheless, Google cloud appears to be growing and Greene is fresh off the successful launch of several important products and services.