Three MIT PhD students reverse-engineered Google's AlphaFold 3, creating Boltz-1 as an open-source alternative for drug discovery. Their platform enables pharmaceutical companies to conduct rapid and cost-effective drug-binding predictions while maintaining free access to the underlying models. Boltz aims to challenge commercial restrictions and offer a more accessible solution within the competitive landscape of AI in drug discovery.

• Three MIT PhD students reverse-engineered AlphaFold 3's methodology and released it as open-source Boltz-1, bypassing Google's restrictive licensing.
• Pharmaceutical companies can now run drug-binding predictions rapidly and cheaply without paying for or being restricted by Google's commercial terms.
• The project directly challenges the trend of AI drug-discovery tools being locked behind corporate control, pushing the field back toward open access.