Anthropic's Claude AI has identified a new enzyme system resembling CRISPR in bacteriophage DNA, potentially advancing genomic research.

Anthropic's AI model Claude has reportedly identified a novel enzyme system in bacteriophage DNA with properties reminiscent of CRISPR. This discovery, announced on September 23, 2026, highlights AI's potential to accelerate biological research by uncovering previously unknown molecular systems.

The enzyme system, tentatively named array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART), was found through a large-scale analysis of DNA sequences. Claude’s agents screened 200,000 reverse transcriptase (RT) sequences, narrowing down to 20 promising candidates after 21 hours of processing data comprising 210 million tokens. One agent flagged a repeating DNA sequence next to a gene for an unusual RT, reminiscent of CRISPR’s characteristic repeat arrays. Anthropic’s lab experiments confirmed the presence of an uncharacterized system, but its precise function remains under investigation.

CRISPR, widely known for its role in gene editing, also originated from the study of bacterial immune systems. The ART system could similarly represent a programmable tool for DNA manipulation, though further research is needed. Feng Zhang, a pioneer in CRISPR genome editing, described the discovery as “genuinely intriguing and merits further investigation,” emphasizing AI's growing role in foundational scientific research.

The discovery underscores a shift in how biology research is conducted, with AI not only analyzing vast datasets but also generating hypotheses. Anthropic’s Claude operates by reviewing literature, identifying anomalies, and producing human-readable reports for experimental validation. While the ART system is far from being a proven tool like CRISPR, its identification demonstrates the capacity of AI models to uncover patterns that might be missed by humans.

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