Anthropic Says Claude Agents Make First Molecular Biology Discovery, but Researchers Challenge the Claim
Summary
Anthropic says 950 Claude agents make a molecular-biology discovery in 21 hours by identifying an uncatalogued repeating pattern around a known enzyme, but University of Copenhagen biologist Mario Rodríguez Mestre says his team had already found it and raises concerns about whether Claude learned from their chats, which Anthropic denies.
Key Points
- Anthropic says its Claude-powered molecular biology lab makes its first discovery, identifying an uncatalogued repeating pattern around a known enzyme after 950 agents work for 21 hours.
- University of Copenhagen biologist Mario Rodríguez Mestre says his team already finds the same pattern and stops using Claude after wondering whether Anthropic learned from his chats; Anthropic denies it.
- OpenAI says its agents solve a million-dollar mathematics problem earlier this month, but critics question whether the result matters to mathematicians and allege the models may use uncredited work.