Anthropic opens AI-powered biology research lab

Anthropic PBC has opened a new wet lab in the San Francisco Bay Area to conduct biology research. The company will utilize robots powered by its Claude series of large language models to automate certain scientific tasks within the facility. While the specific research projects at the lab remain undisclosed, it is not focused on drug discovery, as previously announced by Anthropic.

The lab's creation aims to explore various subfields of biology. The development of drugs typically requires finding high-affinity binders, which Anthropic tested using Claude Mythos 5.1. The results showed a 50% hit rate, significantly higher than the usual range of 10% to 15%. The new lab will also utilize the Model Hardware Standard (MHS) protocol, allowing Claude to control lab equipment, analyze data, and automate experiments.

Anthropic plans to collaborate with external partners for some lab tasks and may license its discoveries to pharmaceutical companies instead of developing them in-house. The company emphasizes that it is not competing with pharmaceutical firms.