Anthropic sets up wet lab in Bay Area, deflating a classic AI-risk skeptic argument
NathanpmYoung · x · 2026-09-20
Per Reuters, Anthropic has set up a wet lab in the San Francisco Bay Area for physical biology work, aiming to unlock treatments for rare diseases — research that has now moved beyond in silico evaluations.
- Jim Randomh notes this punctures the classic AI-risk skeptic talking point: "AI could not engineer a pandemic because it couldn't get control of a wet lab."
- He argues lab control was never the bottleneck for a superintelligent AI, and that this is roughly the fifth instance of such arguments being broken by reality — skeptics should recognize the pattern and update their remaining arguments.
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