In July 2021, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) led to a breakthrough in an intense, 60-year-long race to solve the protein folding problem. Experts all agreed it was too soon to assess the implications of the breakthrough, but then divided into 2 camps.
Some experts greeted the news cautiously, emphasizing what the advance had not yet achieved. Other scientists—including some who lost the race—called it “totally transformative,”1,2 “revolutionary,”3 and of equivalent importance to the Human Genome Project.3 Most agreed that the discovery was a landmark in biomedical science, with great potential to advance medical practice.