Android is losing one of its long-time technical leaders. Dave Burke, VP of engineering at Android, said Thursday that he is stepping down from his position after 14 years. However, he is not leaving Alphabet and will explore “AI/bio” projects within the company.
Burke was involved in pivotal projects at Android, including the Nexus and Pixel phones, developing Chrome for mobile phones, launching Android TV and leading efforts to build and ship developer tools.
Burke's move follows a slew of layoffs and restructurings at Alphabet this year. In January, the company laid off more than 1,000 employees, including most of its AR hardware team, and in April Google combined its hardware and Android teams to focus on bringing AI to all its devices. That last decision led to Hiroshi Lockheimer, who headed Android, Chrome and ChromeOS, to explore other roles within the company, and Rick Osterloh, SVP of devices and services, to be appointed to oversee the new division. Sameer Samat, who worked under Lockheimer, became the president of Android Ecosystem.
In a message on XBurke said he would continue as a consultant while he looked for another project.
In a letter to his colleagues said which Burke also published on LinkedInhe said he wanted to explore AI's role in driving drug discovery.
“AI has the potential to play a critical role in accelerating drug discovery, with broad applicability, including in difficult-to-treat childhood cancers, a topic close to my heart. I am working with Sundar to explore relevant roles at Alphabet,” he said.
