Another senior OpenAI departure as Ben Goodger returns to Google Labs

The ChatGPT Atlas engineering chief is the latest senior figure to leave OpenAI, joining Google Labs to build a new project from the ground up.

Ben Goodger has left OpenAI, where he led engineering for ChatGPT Atlas, to join Google Labs as Vice President, reuniting with former Google colleagues Brian Rakowski and Josh Woodward. Image credit: Ben Goodger

Ben Goodger, Head of Engineering for ChatGPT Atlas at OpenAI, has left the company to join Google Labs as Vice President.

The move, announced by Goodger on LinkedIn, adds to a wave of recent senior exits from OpenAI that ETIH reported on earlier this week, following the departures of Kevin Weil, Bill Peebles, and Srinivas Narayanan within the same week.

Goodger posted on LinkedIn: "I've joined Google Labs. The last few years have been extraordinary: AI has fundamentally changed what it means to build, even over the past few months.

“I want to get closer to that, not further from it. So I'm returning to the beginning of the creative process and building something new from the ground up."

He added that he is looking forward to working with Brian Rakowski and Josh Woodward at Google Labs.

A return to Google after nearly two years at OpenAI

Goodger spent one year and 11 months at OpenAI as Head of Engineering for ChatGPT Atlas before making the move back to Google. He joined OpenAI in June 2024 after a 19-year tenure at Google, where he had been Vice President and helped create both Chrome and ChromeOS.

His career prior to Google includes a period as Lead Engineer at the Mozilla Foundation, where he built Firefox 1.0 with the open source community, and an earlier stint as a Software Engineer at Netscape Communications, where he contributed to Netscape Navigator 6, 6.5, and 7. He labeled his CV entries himself, describing the OpenAI role as "zero to one" and the new Google Labs position as "back at it."

Goodger's departure follows those of Kevin Weil, VP of OpenAI for Science, who exited as the OpenAI for Science division was disbanded following the launch of GPT-Rosalind; Bill Peebles, Head of Sora, who announced his exit on X; and Srinivas Narayanan, CTO of B2B Applications, who led engineering teams responsible for ChatGPT and the OpenAI API.

The latest exit underlines how rapidly senior technical talent is moving between the largest players in AI.