Google shuts down AlphaFold team, sidelines DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis
marigo · x · 2026-08-15
The article reports that Google has shut down the team behind AlphaFold, DeepMind's AI-powered protein structure prediction tool, which was considered the strongest argument for AI curing cancer and helped Demis Hassabis win a Nobel Prize. A week after the shutdown, Hassabis was removed from his role leading DeepMind and promoted to a powerless position. According to the Financial Times, these moves indicate that Google executives have grown frustrated with Hassabis's scientific leadership, shifting the company's focus from ambitious scientific promises to profitability.
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