George Church Resigns as Adviser to Radical Numerics Over AI Phage Therapy Credit Dispute
anshulkundaje · x · 2026-11-08
What happened
Radical Numerics made headlines last month by announcing that its researchers had used AI to design bacteriophages that killed a dangerous bacterial infection and treated a patient — a first.
The dispute
- The company has now acknowledged that partner Tabula Bioscience performed much of the research, including creating the phage cocktail actually administered to the patient. The announcement made no mention of the partnership.
- CEO Eric Nguyen admitted in an email to the Times that the teams "worked closely... over seven months," while denying any misrepresentation.
- Harvard geneticist George Church resigned as adviser to Radical Numerics over concerns that experimental results produced by another company were presented as its own.
- It remains unclear whether the company's AI designs were actually used in the patient; the other company also made its own designs.
Anshul Kundaje argues there's "zero excuse" for presenting others' work as their own and awaits the company's clarification.
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