Tagging AI-generated proteins during design process will let scientists know who made them

Google DeepMind has developed a way to watermark proteins designed by artificial intelligence (AI) during the design process itself, which could help scientists better track the origin of these structures.

Generative AI models have become a standard tool for researchers to design new protein structures with specific properties or functions, such as muscle-inspired proteins that are stronger than their natural counterparts. Given the influx of AI-generated protein structures, particularly since Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold won the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2024, there needs to be a way to track their origin.