Anthropic announced on September 23, 2026 the discovery of a previously unknown enzymatic system in bacteriophage DNA, revealed by 950 Claude agents operating for 21 hours and consuming 210 million tokens. Named ART for « array-associated reverse transcriptases », this system displays DNA repetitions reminiscent of CRISPR’s structure, the genome editing tool behind new medical treatments. The analysis identified over 200,000 reverse transcriptases, pinpointed 3,500 candidate systems and selected the 20 most promising ones for detailed reports, work that would have taken weeks or even months for a human expert. Feng Zhang, a CRISPR pioneer at MIT and the Broad Institute, called the discovery « truly intriguing » and said it deserved further investigation. Laboratory testing is ongoing in biosafety level 1 and 2 facilities, with no risk to humans.
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