Anthropic claims AI-assisted discovery of a CRISPR-like enzyme system in bacteriophages

Anthropic announced that its newly established Bay Area biology lab has identified a previously unknown enzyme system in bacteriophages with properties reminiscent of CRISPR, a widely used gene-editing technology derived from bacterial immune systems.

The company said the discovery was made "mostly, though not entirely, by Claude," with the model contributing about 21 hours of concerted effort across roughly 950 agents that processed approximately 210 million tokens.

Anthropic described the enzyme system as capable of performing operations like cutting, copying, and pasting DNA, though the broader research community will need to validate the novelty and significance of the finding.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei noted that a Stanford team had previously reported a system in some ways similar to the one found by Claude, underscoring that the discovery builds on prior work.

The lab, which operates at biosafety levels BSL-1 and BSL-2 and does not handle human-infecting pathogens, conducts all physical experiments with human scientists, according to the company.

Amodei also reiterated concerns about bioterrorism risks even as he expressed optimism that AI could help cure most diseases within five to ten years.

He added that fully autonomous wet-lab experiments—where Claude would control lab equipment—remain a future possibility rather than current practice.