Anthropic's AI-Driven Biology Lab Finds a New CRISPR-Like Enzyme System

Skynet Chance (+0.02%): Large swarms of AI agents making discoveries in biology raise dual-use and bioterrorism concerns, and the stated goal of eventually letting AI run lab equipment itself would give AI more power in the physical world. Keeping humans doing the experiments and limiting the work to low-risk biosafety levels partly offsets this.

Skynet Date (+0 days): The result shows AI agents already doing useful scientific discovery faster than expected, which brings forward the point at which risky autonomous research could happen. At the same time, AI labs are publicly calling for the industry to slow down.

AGI Progress (+0.01%): A possibly new scientific discovery made mostly by coordinated AI agents in 21 hours is evidence of real research and reasoning ability beyond benchmark results. However, the finding builds on earlier Stanford work and still needs outside validation.

AGI Date (+0 days): Using AI to speed up science, and possibly AI research itself, suggests capabilities could grow faster, and Anthropic is clearly putting money into AI-run science labs. The effect is still modest until the discovery is confirmed and repeated.