Google DeepMind AlphaFold team reshuffled as AI strategy shifts
Google DeepMind has reportedly broken up the AlphaFold group as staff move to Gemini, science projects and Isomorphic Labs.
By Rafael Ortiz · Fintech Correspondent
· 3 min read
Google DeepMind has reportedly disbanded the Google DeepMind AlphaFold team, moving many of the researchers behind its Nobel Prize-winning AI system into other parts of Google’s artificial intelligence operation. The shift, reported Wednesday by the Financial Times, points to a broader change in how one of the industry’s leading AI labs is allocating scientific talent after the rise of large language models.
Most of the original authors of the AlphaFold papers have been reassigned over the past year, the Financial Times reported, citing its analysis of recent job moves and people familiar with the matter. Google confirmed to the FT that employees had moved into work linked to its Gemini large language model, as well as projects in enzyme design, nuclear fusion and genomics.
Some former AlphaFold staff have moved to Isomorphic Labs, Google’s related AI drug discovery business, according to the FT. Nearly a quarter of the full-time Google DeepMind authors of the original AlphaFold papers have left the company, the newspaper reported.
What happened to the Google DeepMind AlphaFold team?
The FT described the changes as a breakup of the team that built AlphaFold, rather than a cancellation of Google’s AI science work. Google told the newspaper that staff had been reassigned to other initiatives, including Gemini-based systems and scientific areas such as genomics and nuclear fusion.
The move signals a change in research structure. DeepMind had long organized major efforts around defined scientific challenges, according to Pushmeet Kohli, vice-president of research at Google DeepMind and founder and head of its AI for Science team.
“Our strategy over the last nine years has been to focus on grand challenges … a concrete goal every project is focused on,” Kohli told the Financial Times. “The strategy has evolved.”
Kohli told the FT that DeepMind is now also working on Gemini-powered systems that can help scientists and may eventually automate parts of scientific work. In practical terms, that means placing more emphasis on general-purpose AI systems that can support multiple research tasks, while Google competes with companies including OpenAI and Anthropic in frontier AI agents.
Why is Google changing its AI science strategy?
The Financial Times framed the reorganization as a response to the arrival of large language models and the growing race to build more capable AI agents. Gemini is Google’s large language model, and DeepMind’s new emphasis includes using it as a foundation for systems that support scientific work across several fields rather than concentrating only on individual scientific problems.
The reshuffle follows the departure of John Jumper, one of the Nobel Prize-winning scientists behind AlphaFold. PYMNTS reported weeks earlier that Jumper was leaving Google to join Anthropic.
Google’s wider AI work is also extending into the workplace. PYMNTS reported this week on Google research showing that workers in physical and manual roles, including auto technicians and industrial mechanics, are using conversational AI for real-time diagnostics, troubleshooting and on-the-job learning.
That research found that workplace AI touches 68% of jobs, representing 90% of U.S. employment, according to PYMNTS. Within an individual job, workers use it for about 21% of tasks on average.
Scott Strand, Google’s head of strategic operations and special projects for technology and society, told Axios last week that blue-collar workers are using more multimodal AI, which he described as AI involving images and video.
This story draws on original reporting from PYMNTS.
