The developers of DeepMind have opted to freely share its database of protein structures rather than sell access, with the hope of spurring progress across the biological sciences. “We are interested in maximum impact,” said Demis Hassabis, chief executive and co-founder of DeepMind, which is owned by the same parent company as Google but operates more like a research lab than a commercial business.

Some scientists have compared DeepMind’s new database to the Human Genome Project. Completed in 2003, the Human Genome Project provided a map of all human genes. Now, DeepMind has provided a map of the roughly 20,000 proteins expressed by the human genome — another step toward understanding how our bodies work and how we can respond when things go wrong.

The hope is also that the technology will continue to evolve. A lab at the University of Washington has built a similar system called RoseTTAFold, and like DeepMind, it has openly shared the computer code that drives its system. Anyone can use the technology, and anyone can work to improve it.