September 24, 2026
AI agents find enzymes in a day: Claude discovered the ART system in 21 hours
On September 23, Anthropic reported: 950 Claude agents found a previously undescribed ART system in bacteriophage DNA in 21 hours. The search used 210 million tokens. Scientists validated selected hypotheses in the lab.
An expert would spend weeks or months on this kind of analysis. Claude assembled 200 thousand reverse transcriptases, selected 3 500 new candidates, and narrowed them to 20 for reports.
The lab validates. Agents searched for candidates and proposed hypotheses, while scientists tested options after review. ART's function remains unknown: Anthropic sees similarities to programmable systems that cut, copy, and insert DNA.
The tool is already available. Anthropic uses Claude Science and Claude Code, available to researchers outside the company. Claude Science is in beta on macOS, Windows, and Linux, uses the same Claude models from the Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise plan; the company says it offers 10 thousand discounted seats for 12 months to academic and nonprofit groups.
Anthropic released a preprint and continues lab experiments with ART.
