DeepSeek Launches V4 Pro Model as Google Reshuffles Leadership and Jeff Dean Departs
DeepSeek releases V4 Pro on August 13, while Google appoints new DeepMind head and loses Jeff Dean to startup Discovery Loop.
DeepSeek Launches Official V4 Pro Model
DeepSeek formally released its official V4 Pro model on August 13, 2026, making the DeepSeek-V4-Pro-0813 available through API, APP and Web channels. The company said the model greatly enhances agent capabilities as it steps up its global expansion.
DeepSeek also announced it will raise API pricing for its V4 Pro and V4 Flash models and introduce peak and off-peak pricing structures.
Notably, DeepSeek’s cheaper V4 Flash model unexpectedly outperformed the April preview of V4 Pro in several independent tests, adding to the company’s momentum in the market.
Rising Valuations and Past Momentum
The V4 Pro launch comes as DeepSeek’s valuation continues to climb. Reuters reported in July 2026 that the company was planning a new fundraising round at a valuation of approximately $74 billion. This follows the company’s first outside financing round in June 2026, which raised approximately $7.4 billion.
DeepSeek’s earlier R1 model went viral in early 2025, raising questions about whether powerful AI systems could be built at much lower cost than those of U.S. rivals.
Google DeepMind Leadership Overhaul
Meanwhile, Google has appointed Koray Kavukcuoglu as head of Google DeepMind, effective immediately. Kavukcuoglu will report directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and will oversee Gemini model development, frontier AI research, and the Gemini app and developer teams.
The leadership shuffle comes as Gemini 3.5 Pro has been reported as months behind schedule.
Jeff Dean Exits Google After 27 Years
In a separate development, Jeff Dean left Google after 27 years to start a new company called Discovery Loop with several top researchers.
Source: Reuters via Investing.com
Developments since publication
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Koray Kavukcuoglu took operational control of Google DeepMind as CTO, replacing Demis Hassabis in day-to-day leadership. Source
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Jeff Dean left Google after 27 years on August 8, 2026. Source
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Jeff Dean is leaving Google along with researchers Sanjay Ghemawat, Quoc Le, and Oriol Vinyals. Source
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Jeff Dean and departing colleagues are starting a new company called Discovery Loop focused on automating scientific research processes using AI. Source
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Discovery Loop is structured as a public benefit corporation. Source
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Google will be an investor and cloud provider to Discovery Loop. Source
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Google's Gemini 3.5 Pro is reported to be months behind schedule as of August 2026. Source
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Google has not unveiled a frontier model since early 2026. Source
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OpenAI released an updated GPT-5.6 Sol with 68 percent fewer factual errors compared to GPT-5.5. Source
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OpenAI's free tier now gets unlimited chats on GPT-5.6 Luna. Source
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Anthropic has secured approximately $71 billion in chip lease obligations. Source
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AMD acquired startup Taalas for its silicon-burning model technology. Source
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Taalas's silicon-burning model technology demonstrated processing speeds of 17,000 tokens per second for specialized workloads. Source
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Meta released Muse Spark 1.2 on August 5, 2026. Source