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Comment by marcbeep | Hacker News Reader

I don't think Google owns the term "Alpha".

As far as I know Apple also does not own "i" or McDonalds owns "Mc".

If you're creating a Burger called McSomething or a device called iWhatever it does not feel like "paying homage" to Apple/McDonalds, it feels more like copying and trying to capture some audience from this bigger player.

Ah, I see, Ireland and McKinsey are trying to copy and capture McDonalds audience. /s

Yes, you said burger, but also AlphaNIST is not a technology conglomerate holding company. And the term Alpha is not at all used in their products. It's neither Alpha Phones, not AlphaGemini, nor is Google called Alpha. More than that Alphabet is never shortened Alpha.

I would strongly argue against that. I would argue that Google Deepmind has consistently used AlphaSomething for their scientific models. Not for their consumer models which are Gemini, but their models which are more cutting edge and specific to niche problems.

Let's list them!

AlphaZero, AlphaGo, AlphaFold, AlphaGenome, AlphaEarth, AlphaGeometry, AlphaProteo, AlphaTensor.

There's a reason why so many people in the comments here thought that this was a model from Google.

Edit: Just looked through Wikipedia. Here's a few more: AlphaProof, AlphaDev, AlphaEvolve, AlphaStar, AlphaChip

AlphaStation (oh no, that was DEC).

Alpha Centauri (oh no, that's the star system).

Alpha-gal syndrome (oh no, that's the allergy to red meat you can get from being bitten by a tick).

Alpha-bits (oh that's the breakfast cereal)

Alpha course (oh no that's the thing for if you're Anglican and still want to feel like you're in a cult)

Alphabetti Spaghetti (actually I think that was Google Deepmind probably)

....

Got any in a single category which all start with Alpha and named by the same organization? Say something like... I don't know... Deep learning models published by Google?

If there's 10 breakfast cereals from the same company all starting with Alpha, I would give you some credit. But like this I don't even know what your reply is trying to tell me.

I honestly feel like I am taking crazy pills here.

OK I'm telling you that I'm not as keen as you are to cede every possible name that starts with "Alpha" to Google.

And to answer your question directly, DEC had a whole series of things called "Alpha". eg AlphaStation family of workstations, the Alpha AXP series of processors etc (alpha 21064, alpha 21164, alpha 21264, alpha 21364).

Really trying to think about it, and I can't name a single product from Alphabet or Google that contains "alpha"

That's because Google Deepmind has consistently used AlphaSomething for their scientific models. Not for their consumer models which are Gemini, but their models which are more cutting edge and specific to niche problems.

Let's list them!

AlphaZero, AlphaGo, AlphaFold, AlphaGenome, AlphaEarth, AlphaGeometry, AlphaProteo, AlphaTensor.

There are some revolutionary models in there. Especially AlphaZero and AlphaFold. AlphaFold even won a nobel price in 2024.

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