AI SCIENCE
This AI doesn’t fold proteins anymore. It decodes you
DeepMind has just introduced AlphaGenome, an AI tool that could change how researchers understand the human genome.
Building on the success of AlphaFold (which cracked how proteins fold), this model goes further by predicting how even tiny changes in your DNA can affect how genes behave.
It’s trained on decades of biological data and can scan up to a million letters of genetic code at once.
From there, it figures out where genes begin and end, how RNA is processed, and what might happen if just one DNA letter is altered.
Unlike most tools, AlphaGenome works across the entire genome, not just the small portion that makes proteins.
Here’s what stands out:
Covers the full genome, not just protein-coding regions
Ranks mutations by impact, helping scientists focus on what matters
DeepMind plans to open-source it, with biosecurity checks already in place
3 BILLION letters, no pressure
Scientists say this could save them huge amounts of time.
Instead of sorting through thousands of possible mutations, the AI ranks the ones that are most likely to matter, making it easier to study disease or design new genes from scratch.
In tests, AlphaGenome outperformed most of the existing models.
Academic researchers can use it for free, and DeepMind plans to release the full model publicly once it’s peer-reviewed.
As for safety? Experts have reviewed it and say the benefits outweigh the risks.
Imagine changing one letter in your DNA and AI going, “Yup, that’s why you have asthma, lol.”