François Chollet, the AI pioneer who created Keras, says he is leaving Google after nearly 10 years to start a company with a friend, but doesn't offer details
I'm leaving Google to go start a new company with a friend. More to be announced soon! I will stay deeply involved with the Keras project from the outside — you'll still find me active on the GitHub repo! At Google, I'm leaving the project in excellent hands: Jeff Carpenter is taking over as team lead for Keras, @googledevs : Keras is more than just a tool—it's a community driving AI innovation. As @fchollet begins a new chapter, our commitment to Keras and open-source AI remains strong. Read more in our latest blog ➡️ https://developers.googleblog.com/ ... [image] Lex Fridman / @lexfridman : @fchollet Thank you for everything you've done for the AI community 🙏 Good luck! Aakash Kumar Nain / @a_k_nain : I will always be grateful to @fchollet for all the work he did for Keras and the ecosystem. As a person who loves OSS, when I started collaborating, I learned so many things from him about API designs, and why simplicity makes is favorable for the longer run. Keras will always be Shane Gu / @shaneguml : @fchollet Besides Keras, your 60 page writeup on the measure of intelligence was great. It proposed the right and pragmatic perspective to think about generalization. Best of luck in your new journey! https://arxiv.org/... Forums: Hacker News : Francois Chollet is leaving Google BeauHD / Slashdot : Google Loses Yet Another AI Pioneer As Keras Creator Leaves
Context & Ripple Effects
Chollet’s exit separates the creator of Keras from Google while preserving a formal continuity channel: he says he will remain active in the project’s GitHub repository, and Google has named Jeff Carpenter as Keras lead.
The move fits a broader coverage arc of senior AI personnel changing employers or founding companies, including reports that Meta’s chief AI scientist planned to leave to found a startup and that a key Google AI developer later departed amid competition with Anthropic and OpenAI.
First-order effects
- Google hands day-to-day Keras leadership to Jeff Carpenter, while Chollet shifts from internal owner to outside contributor.
- Chollet can focus on an as-yet-undisclosed company; the article provides no basis to assess its product, funding, or relationship to Keras.
Second-order effects
- Keras users and contributors gain a clearer continuity signal from Google’s leadership transition and Chollet’s stated continued GitHub involvement, limiting the immediate risk that his departure means abandonment.
- Google loses an in-house AI framework creator even as Keras remains under its stewardship, making community confidence and execution by the new lead more consequential.
Third-order effects
- If senior AI researchers increasingly leave large labs to build independent companies, the sector’s competitive edge will depend not only on model infrastructure but on retaining the people who shape developer ecosystems.
- Open-source projects may increasingly outlast any one employer through community governance and external maintainers, though this case alone does not establish a broader governance change.
The trend: This is one instance of AI talent mobility turning prominent researchers and open-source leaders into potential founders while their projects remain tied to incumbent platforms.