Google announced today that Andrew W. Moore, dean of Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, will rejoin the company in January to lead its Cloud AI efforts.

"I am bursting with excitement about this," Moore said. "I have always deeply believed in the power of technology to improve the state of the world, so for me it's a big opportunity to help Google bring useful AI to all the other industry verticals."

Moore recently said that he would step down as dean and as professor of computer science and robotics by the end of the year. At Google, Moore will replace Fei Fei Li, who will resume her full-time role as a professor of computer science at Stanford University. In his new role, Moore will be based in Pittsburgh.

"We are incredibly fortunate to have Andrew's leadership at this point in our development as we define how we will expand bringing AI and ML (machine learning) technologies and solutions to developers and organizations all over the world," the company said in a Google Cloud Blog post.

Moore joined the SCS faculty in 1993 and was recruited by Google in 2006, where he led the creation of Google Pittsburgh. He was Google's vice president of engineering before returning to the university as dean in 2014.

"On behalf of the Carnegie Mellon University community, I am excited to convey our support for Andrew Moore as he takes this next step in his career," said Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon. "In addition to advancing CMU's vision for the transformative potential of AI, Andrew is exemplifying the Carnegie Mellon ideal of taking ideas developed at the university and applying them to real-world environments. Pursuing a shared understanding of the vital role of AI in the 21st century will also continue to strengthen our long-standing partnership with Google."

As dean, Moore leveraged SCS's pioneering work in artificial intelligence, establishing a CMU AI initiative that now includes more than 200 faculty from across campus. He has been an outspoken proponent of AI, testifying before Congress and consulting regularly with government and industrial leaders. Though AI sometimes is depicted as a possible menace, Moore has contended that AI holds great potential for good and has urged researchers to always consider the societal impact of their work.

Jahanian said he will appoint an interim dean and launch a national search for Moore's replacement.

"I want to express my deepest thanks to the amazing students, faculty and staff of SCS," Moore said in announcing his resignation on Aug. 28. "This school is extremely strong and remains a thought-leader in computer science and robotics. With the technological changes now facing mankind, the world has never needed a strong SCS more than it does today."