Anthropic Says It Discovered a Crispr-Like System. Now What?
Anthropic researchers used AI agents to identify potential new gene-editing enzymes within genomic databases. While the company claims this is a significant discovery, outside experts remain cautious, noting that the findings have not been peer-reviewed and the practical utility of the enzymes is unproven.
Why it matters
This represents an early attempt to use large language models to accelerate biological discovery, potentially revolutionizing drug development if the findings are validated.
According to Anthropic, about 950 Claude agents running simultaneously found the interesting genetic sequences in 21.5 hours. “I sincerely compliment Anthropic for telling the world about their discovery,” says Fyodor Urnov, a gene-editing expert at the University of California, Berkeley and director for therapeutic R&D at its Innovative Genomics Institute. (IGI is collaborating with Anthropic, but was not involved with the new discovery.)
Other scientists are less enthusiastic about the finding, which is the first to come out of a research group formed by Anthropic earlier this year. “The experiments are still in the queue. The PR is already live,” says Le Cong, a professor at Stanford University focused on integrating AI into genome engineering research.
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