Google’s Prabhakar Raghavan steps down

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, announced that Prabhakar Raghavan, who led the company’s search engine and ads products, is stepping down from his role and will become Chief Technologist at Google. Nick Fox, a long-time executive at the company, will replace Raghavan.

Pichai said, “Prabhakar has decided it’s time to make a big leap in his own career. After 12 years leading teams across Google, he’ll return to his computer science roots and take on the role of Chief Technologist. In this role, he’ll partner closely with me and Google leads to provide technical direction and leadership and grow our culture of tech excellence. Nick Fox, a longtime Googler and member of Prabhakar’s leadership team, will be stepping up to lead K&I, which includes our Search, Ads, Geo, and Commerce products.”

In his new role as Chief Technologist, Raghavan will return to his computer science roots, providing technical leadership and direction while working closely with Pichai and the company's leadership to promote a culture of technological excellence.

Raghavan’s contributions include leading the Gmail team in launching AI-driven features like Smart Reply and Smart Compose. He also oversaw AI developments such as AI Overviews, Circle to Search, Immersive View, and virtual try-on tools for Maps and Shopping.

Nick Fox, who has helped shape Google’s AI product roadmap and contributed to the launch of products such as Google Fi and RCS messaging, will take over leadership of the search and ads divisions.