Google宣布关闭其AlphaFold项目，该项目的核心团队成员已被重新分配至Gemini等其他项目，部分员工已离职 [1]。AlphaFold是DeepMind开发的人工智能程序，能够快速预测蛋白质三维结构，在2020年被公认为解决了人类困扰50年的蛋白质折叠难题 [1]。
这一决策引发关注，因为该项目的领导者刚刚获得全球最高荣誉。DeepMind首席执行官Demis Hassabis和副总裁John Jumper因AlphaFold研究在2024年获得诺贝尔化学奖 [1]。不过，Jumper已于6月宣布离开DeepMind加入Anthropic [1]。Google方面，DeepMind研究副总裁Pushmeet Kohli表示"过去九年的策略一直是关注宏大挑战，但策略已经演变" [1]，暗示公司正在调整重点。被重新分配的项目成员中，部分被转入Alphabet旗下的药物发现公司Isomorphic Labs，后者是DeepMind的衍生公司 [1]。
Google has discontinued its AlphaFold project, reassigning core team members to other initiatives including Gemini development.[1] The decision marks a significant shift in the company's research priorities despite the project's landmark achievements in structural biology.
AlphaFold, developed by DeepMind, gained international recognition for solving a decades-long scientific challenge.[1] In 2020, the AI program was acknowledged for resolving the protein folding problem that had confounded researchers for fifty years, with Nature publishing its methodology and complete human proteome structure predictions in 2021.[1] The breakthrough's significance was underscored when DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and VP John Jumper received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the AlphaFold research.[1]
The shutdown reflects a strategic reorientation at Google DeepMind. According to research vice president Pushmeet Kohli, "the strategy over the past nine years has consistently focused on major challenges...the strategy has evolved."[1] Some team members have been reassigned to Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet-owned drug discovery subsidiary and DeepMind spinoff, while others have departed the organization.[1] John Jumper announced his departure from DeepMind in June to join Anthropic.[1]