Anthropic's molecular biology lab says Claude agents found a CRISPR-like enzyme; mechanism questioned
anshulkundaje · x · 2026-09-24
Anthropic announced its molecular biology lab's first result: 950 Claude agents spent 21 hours searching DNA sequence databases until one flagged a tandem repeat array next to an RT gene, later confirmed as an uncharacterized CRISPR-like enzyme system of unknown function; the lab works only at low biosafety levels.
Niko McCarty pushed back: host-pathogen interactions gave us CRISPR and restriction enzymes, but tools become useful only once their mechanisms are understood and engineerable — announcing before any mechanistic work undermines the significance.
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