Anthropic says Claude AI helped discover novel enzyme system

FILE PHOTO: The Anthropic logo, a keyboard and a robotic hand are shown in this illustration created on June 5, 2026.

FILE PHOTO: The Anthropic logo, a keyboard and a robotic hand are shown in this illustration created on June 5, 2026.(REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo)


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Sept 23 — Anthropic on Wednesday said its Claude ​model helped discover a novel enzyme system with properties reminiscent of mechanisms in ‌gene-editing technology CRISPR, marking the first result from the ⁠AI startup's biology ​research efforts.

The finding ⁠comes days after Reuters reported Anthropic ‌had quietly established ‌a wet lab in the San ⁠Francisco Bay Area, ⁠as the company expands its ambitions in life sciences and drug-related research beyond purely computer-based work.

• Anthropic said Claude analyzed large DNA databases and found an ‌unusual system built around ​a reverse transcriptase (RT), an enzyme that copies RNA into DNA.

• Anthropic has named the system array-associated reverse transcriptases, or ART.

• ART contains repeating DNA sequences that resemble patterns seen in CRISPR, Anthropic said.

• The ​company noted that while the underlying ‌RT had ‌been ⁠identified in previous studies, Claude appeared to be the first to recognize key features of the broader system, including an array ‌of non-coding DNA ​sequences and an additional ‌protein of unknown ⁠function.

(Reporting ​by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan ​Ananda)

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