AI giant Anthropic and CEO Dario Amodei have repeatedly claimed that the company’s models will revolutionize biology and drug discovery. But in its IPO filing Monday, Anthropic struck a humbler note, acknowledging its lack of experience in physical experimentation and the potential pitfalls of drug development. Wherever it’s going, it seems, it will take some time to get there.

Two years ago, Amodei wrote that he was “open” to the idea that AI systems could produce a thousand years of progress in biology in just five to 10 years. In August, he said on X that “Anthropic is ramping up its efforts very quickly in biology and medicine.” In the same post, he predicted that AI will make it possible to cure most human diseases in the next five to 10 years and promised a “deluge of AI-accelerated drugs.” The company also promoted the discovery of a “Crispr-like” enzyme by Claude in September.

While the new IPO filing still touts AI’s ability to “profoundly accelerate the rate of progress in biology and medicine” and compress “decades of scientific progress into years,” it’s reserved about how it will turn the potential into the actual.

The company says that its teams “need first-hand experience doing scientific research and drug discovery” and that its life sciences activities will require it “to engage in activities outside our historical experience as a software and research organization.” That includes handling potentially hazardous materials, operating laboratory equipment, and complying with a bevy of regulations.

) Researchers previously told WIRED they were skeptical of the enzyme discovery’s value and utility, and one scientist who had been studying these exact enzymes became suspicious that Claude used his research.

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