Anthropic Opened Bio Access and Hired Its Own Referee 11 Days After Asking the World to Slow Down
shaunralston · x · 2026-09-24
An investigation by Sayer Ji contends that Anthropic's actions contradicted Dario Amodei's September 12 essay calling to slow AI capability gains:
- September 23: 950 AI agents, prompted by Anthropic scientists, spent 21 hours searching DNA data and uncovered a previously uncharacterized enzyme system in viral DNA — related known systems can cut, copy, and paste DNA. The finding came from a biology lab Reuters first reported only five days earlier.
- Broader access: vetted users got expanded biology access with fewer blocking restrictions.
- Self-appointed referee: Anthropic picked an evaluator it will pay directly — a firm that already runs a business built around the product, raising conflict-of-interest concerns.
The piece argues the sequencing of these announcements within eleven days tells a very different story from the pacing rhetoric in the headlines.
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