Anthropic says its AI Claude has autonomously discovered a new enzyme system similar to the machinery behind Crispr, marking the first result from the company's newly launched wet lab.
Anthropic says its AI model Claude has “autonomously discovered” a new enzyme system similar to the machinery behind Crispr, the powerful gene-editing tool, according to The Verge.
The Verge reports that the finding is the first result to emerge from Anthropic’s newly launched wet lab, a physical laboratory where the company can test whether its AI can contribute to scientific research.
The result is being positioned by the company as an early test of Claude’s usefulness for science. According to The Verge, it comes as Anthropic prepares to go public.
Anthropic says Claude found the enzyme system after conducting research, though the full details of the process were not provided in the available source text.
The comparison to Crispr is notable because Crispr is one of the most influential tools in modern biology, widely used for editing genes. Anthropic is drawing a parallel between its discovery and the machinery behind that technology.
Why it matters
AI companies are increasingly trying to show their models can do more than answer questions, including making original scientific contributions. If validated, a claim that an AI autonomously discovered a new enzyme system would be an early signal of how such tools might reshape research, though independent verification remains important.