AlphaFold no more? Google moves Nobel-winning AI team so it can focus on Gemini
Google DeepMind has broken up the AlphaFold team and moved many of its researchers to Gemini-led and other science projects
Google DeepMind has dismantled the team behind AlphaFold, the Nobel Prize-winning artificial intelligence system that transformed protein structure prediction. The move is reportedly part of the company's plans to shift more of its research efforts towards Gemini-powered AI. Instead of building dedicated teams around individual scientific challenges, DeepMind is now prioritising general-purpose AI systems that can support research across multiple disciplines.
According to a Financial Times report, most of the original authors of the AlphaFold papers have been reassigned over the past year. DeepMind also confirmed to the publication that many researchers have moved to projects built around Google's Gemini large language model, while others are now working on enzyme design, genomics and nuclear fusion.
Some former AlphaFold researchers have also joined Alphabet's AI drug discovery company, Isomorphic Labs. Nearly a quarter of the full-time Google DeepMind authors of the original AlphaFold papers have left the company altogether.
No, Alpha Fold is not shut down
The restructuring does not mean AlphaFold has been shut down. The AI system and its vast protein structure database remain available to researchers worldwide. What has changed is Google's approach. Instead of maintaining a dedicated AlphaFold team, DeepMind has reassigned many of its scientists to Gemini and other AI projects to focus on building general-purpose AI systems for scientific discovery.
"Our strategy over the last nine years has been to focus on grand challenges... a concrete goal every project is focused on," Pushmeet Kohli, Vice President of Research at Google DeepMind, told the Financial Times.
AlphaFold remains one of the biggest breakthroughs in AI and biology. Launched in 2018, it solved the decades-old protein folding problem and transformed biological research. Its freely available database of more than 200 million predicted protein structures continues to support drug discovery, vaccine research and studies into diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The work also earned DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and researcher John Jumper the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Who has moved from the AlphaFold team?
Several key members of the AlphaFold team have already moved on. Earlier this year, John Jumper and Jonas Adler were reassigned to Google's internal Code Strike team, which focusses on improving the company's AI coding capabilities. However, Jumper later announced that he was leaving Google to join Anthropic. Adler has also joined Anthropic, along with fellow AlphaFold researcher Alexander Pritzel, marking the departure of three prominent members of the original AlphaFold team.
Despite the reshuffle, DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis is not leaving the company. And his company is now focusing on Gemini-powered AI that can help scientists tackle a wider range of research challenges instead of working through dedicated teams like AlphaFold.
Google DeepMind has dismantled the team behind AlphaFold, the Nobel Prize-winning artificial intelligence system that transformed protein structure prediction. The move is reportedly part of the company's plans to shift more of its research efforts towards Gemini-powered AI. Instead of building dedicated teams around individual scientific challenges, DeepMind is now prioritising general-purpose AI systems that can support research across multiple disciplines.
According to a Financial Times report, most of the original authors of the AlphaFold papers have been reassigned over the past year. DeepMind also confirmed to the publication that many researchers have moved to projects built around Google's Gemini large language model, while others are now working on enzyme design, genomics and nuclear fusion.
Some former AlphaFold researchers have also joined Alphabet's AI drug discovery company, Isomorphic Labs. Nearly a quarter of the full-time Google DeepMind authors of the original AlphaFold papers have left the company altogether.
No, Alpha Fold is not shut down
The restructuring does not mean AlphaFold has been shut down. The AI system and its vast protein structure database remain available to researchers worldwide. What has changed is Google's approach. Instead of maintaining a dedicated AlphaFold team, DeepMind has reassigned many of its scientists to Gemini and other AI projects to focus on building general-purpose AI systems for scientific discovery.
"Our strategy over the last nine years has been to focus on grand challenges... a concrete goal every project is focused on," Pushmeet Kohli, Vice President of Research at Google DeepMind, told the Financial Times.
AlphaFold remains one of the biggest breakthroughs in AI and biology. Launched in 2018, it solved the decades-old protein folding problem and transformed biological research. Its freely available database of more than 200 million predicted protein structures continues to support drug discovery, vaccine research and studies into diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The work also earned DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and researcher John Jumper the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Who has moved from the AlphaFold team?
Several key members of the AlphaFold team have already moved on. Earlier this year, John Jumper and Jonas Adler were reassigned to Google's internal Code Strike team, which focusses on improving the company's AI coding capabilities. However, Jumper later announced that he was leaving Google to join Anthropic. Adler has also joined Anthropic, along with fellow AlphaFold researcher Alexander Pritzel, marking the departure of three prominent members of the original AlphaFold team.
Despite the reshuffle, DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis is not leaving the company. And his company is now focusing on Gemini-powered AI that can help scientists tackle a wider range of research challenges instead of working through dedicated teams like AlphaFold.
Google DeepMind has dismantled the team behind AlphaFold, the Nobel Prize-winning artificial intelligence system that transformed protein structure prediction. The move is reportedly part of the company's plans to shift more of its research efforts towards Gemini-powered AI. Instead of building dedicated teams around individual scientific challenges, DeepMind is now prioritising general-purpose AI systems that can support research across multiple disciplines.
According to a Financial Times report, most of the original authors of the AlphaFold papers have been reassigned over the past year. DeepMind also confirmed to the publication that many researchers have moved to projects built around Google's Gemini large language model, while others are now working on enzyme design, genomics and nuclear fusion.
Some former AlphaFold researchers have also joined Alphabet's AI drug discovery company, Isomorphic Labs. Nearly a quarter of the full-time Google DeepMind authors of the original AlphaFold papers have left the company altogether.
No, Alpha Fold is not shut down
The restructuring does not mean AlphaFold has been shut down. The AI system and its vast protein structure database remain available to researchers worldwide. What has changed is Google's approach. Instead of maintaining a dedicated AlphaFold team, DeepMind has reassigned many of its scientists to Gemini and other AI projects to focus on building general-purpose AI systems for scientific discovery.
"Our strategy over the last nine years has been to focus on grand challenges... a concrete goal every project is focused on," Pushmeet Kohli, Vice President of Research at Google DeepMind, told the Financial Times.
AlphaFold remains one of the biggest breakthroughs in AI and biology. Launched in 2018, it solved the decades-old protein folding problem and transformed biological research. Its freely available database of more than 200 million predicted protein structures continues to support drug discovery, vaccine research and studies into diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The work also earned DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and researcher John Jumper the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Who has moved from the AlphaFold team?
Several key members of the AlphaFold team have already moved on. Earlier this year, John Jumper and Jonas Adler were reassigned to Google's internal Code Strike team, which focusses on improving the company's AI coding capabilities. However, Jumper later announced that he was leaving Google to join Anthropic. Adler has also joined Anthropic, along with fellow AlphaFold researcher Alexander Pritzel, marking the departure of three prominent members of the original AlphaFold team.
Despite the reshuffle, DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis is not leaving the company. And his company is now focusing on Gemini-powered AI that can help scientists tackle a wider range of research challenges instead of working through dedicated teams like AlphaFold.
