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Hi Nels,

My sense, although based upon a much smaller dataset than yours is that AlphaCode (which I have evaluated previously) is remarkably impressive. While I carry it as a bias, it seems to me, that almost without exception, the Google approach to systematically automate is still the leading edge. I used to provide a training primer in an old job to explain the path from GFS to what became Hadoop. Some of the folks using Hadoop behaved as if it were some amazing insight. Teaching people it was merely a gift from Google GFS version 1.0 was sobering for many of them. Many organizations still have legacy ties to hierarchical data structures (mostly mainframe) and of course a dizzying set of relational models (Oracle, SQL Server, etal). Concepts in AI seem to me to REQUIRE a different scale and a different, more parallel way of thinking.

I believe the action to leave behind hierarchical and relational data systems and move headlong into a different organizational pattern is the secret sauce that makes the slow but steady breakthroughs we will continue to see with DeepMind in general and AlphaFold & AlphaCode almost inevitable in my opinion.

I would be interested in your thoughts about where these other systems fit in comparison. I am sure I would learn something I have not considered to date.

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