Anthropic says its biology lab has already found something big
But maybe the biggest reveal is that Anthropic has not let Claude run lose in its biology lab. Humans are still, so far, in the loop.
Anthropic, the AI company, recently announced that its newly established biology lab in the Bay Area has made a significant discovery. The lab, which uses AI models to run physical experiments, claims to have found a new enzyme "system" with properties similar to CRISPR. CRISPR is a gene-editing technology widely used by researchers, and this discovery could have far-reaching implications.
The enzyme system was found within the DNA of bacteriophages, viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria. While the discovery is still being validated by the research community, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei emphasized that the work was primarily done by Claude, their AI model. Claude found the system by searching through data using about 950 agents, which burned through 210 million tokens in just 21 hours of effort.
Despite the rapid pace of the discovery, the lab itself was only established this spring. This development comes at a time when AI CEOs are advocating for slower development and safety-testing procedures due to the potential dangers of AI. Amodei himself has expressed concerns about AI being used for bioterrorism, but believes AI will "cure most diseases in 5-10 years."
The lab's work is primarily conducted at the lower levels of biosafety risk (BSL-1 and BSL-2), and human scientists perform all the lab work. While AI-powered biological research is not unique to Anthropic, it is still a notable step forward for the field. However, Amodei has not ruled out the possibility of a fully automated biology lab in the future, with Claude potentially controlling lab equipment autonomously.
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