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Anthropic’s AI biolab finds ‘CRISPR-like’ DNA in viruses. What’s next?

Nature Bioinformatics AI Heidi Ledford 2026-09-25

TL;DR - Anthropic used roughly 950 AI agents to search DNA sequence databases for virus-associated, “CRISPR-like” genetic elements. The finding suggests agentic AI could accelerate large-scale bioinformatics discovery, although the provided excerpt does not describe the candidate DNA or its validation.

  • The search analyzed viral DNA sequence data using a large multi-agent workflow.
  • Approximately 950 AI agents worked for more than 21 hours.
  • The reported discovery is characterized only as “CRISPR-like”; its function and experimental confirmation are not provided.
  • The effort illustrates how coordinated AI agents can explore biological databases at scale.

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