University of Southern California
Douwe KielaResearcher
Google DeepMind
Research Scientist Director
via Google DeepMind
Researcher · Founder · Executive
Barret Zoph
Vice President of Research at Google DeepMind
Zoph co-created neural architecture search, which allows AI systems to design neural-network architectures automatically. He later became an OpenAI research leader and GPT-4 contributor, co-founded Thinking Machines Lab, and briefly returned to OpenAI before leaving again in June 2026.
See something inaccurate or outdated?
Background
Current role
Vice President of Research Aug 2026-presentGoogle DeepMind
Google DeepMindPreviously
Jan 2026-Aug 2026VP, GM B2B, 
OpenAI
OpenAI2024-2026Co-founder and CTO, 
Thinking Machines Lab
Thinking Machines Lab2022-2024VP Research, Post-Training, OpenAI
OpenAI2016-2022Research Scientist, Google Brain
Education
About this data
Work and education history is primarily focused on AI-relevant roles and may not be comprehensive.
Last editorial review: August 27, 2026News 2
moveBarret Zoph rejoins Google DeepMind
The neural architecture search pioneer is returning to Google as Vice President of Research to work on reinforcement learning and post-training.
August 27, 2026moveBarret Zoph leaves OpenAI againZoph has departed OpenAI five months after rejoining from Thinking Machines Lab to lead enterprise AI sales.
June 19, 2026Citation Trend
4 snapshots137,143citations as of Jul 1, '26+1,692 since Jun 15, '26
For today’s citation count and citations per paper, visit Google Scholar.