Google Lost the Transformer's Co-Author. Then AlphaFold. Same Week.

Noam Shazeer, who co-authored the groundbreaking paper on the transformer architecture that revolutionized language models, abruptly left Google for rival company OpenAI. His departure coincided with another significant shift in Google's AI landscape, highlighting internal turbulence at the company. This move not only underscores the competitive nature of AI development but also raises questions about the future of transformative projects like AlphaFold at Google. Shazeer's transition to a competitor could impact the direction and innovation in AI research.