Anthropic is operating a lab that conducts biology experiments
https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/18/anthropic-is-operating-a-lab-that-conducts-biology-experiments/📌 一邊警告AI恐滅絕人類,一邊開濕實驗室做生物實驗
TL;DR:Anthropic證實內部設有濕實驗室,用AI模型指導真實生物實驗,呼應Amodei「AI十年內治癒重大疾病」的說法。
當一家公司的創辦人才剛公開呼籲全產業「放慢腳步」,警告AI恐怕在十年內帶來滅絕級風險,同一家公司卻被證實在灣區低調營運著一間真實的濕實驗室——這樣的反差,本週成了科技圈熱議的話題。
🤔 從「AI能治病」的承諾說起
AI業界領袖一再宣稱AI將是治癒人類疾病的關鍵。Dario Amodei上週才表示:「我相信AI可以在未來5到10年內治癒大多數重大疾病。」但要驗證這類理論,光靠模型計算並不夠,最終還是得回到真實世界的實驗。Anthropic生命科學部門主管Eric Kauderer-Abrams向路透社證實:「我們相信,做生物研究,最終的檢驗方式在相當長一段時間內仍會是真實的實驗室工作,而我們現在確實在做這件事。」他補充,這間實驗室的運作方式與一般生技實驗室類似,部分研究由Anthropic自行執行,部分則與外部夥伴合作。
🧩 收購Coefficient Bio,聚焦「基礎生物學」而非藥物開發
這項消息其實早有跡可循:Anthropic今年四月收購了原本處於stealth階段的AI生技公司Coefficient Bio。不過Anthropic並未透露實驗室目前的具體研究項目,只表示主要聚焦在「基礎生物學」,而非藥物開發。原因在於Anthropic不希望被視為與自家製藥業客戶競爭——畢竟它才剛宣布要與Novo Nordisk合作進行聯合藥物開發,而先前也曾因推出被認為與客戶業務衝突的產品而遭受批評。本週Anthropic同時啟動了「生命科學驗證計畫」,讓通過審核的生物研究人員能存取其最強大的模型,此前也已發布過關於加速蛋白質設計、以及提升生物分子建模能力的相關研究報告。
💡 警告與實驗室並存的矛盾
這樣的布局之所以引發討論,離不開Anthropic近期一連串的安全論述:研究員Jacob Coxon辭職時警告,「打造AI的人真心相信它可能在這十年結束前殺死我們所有人」;Anthropic自家的alignment負責人也曾給出AI在未來十年內導致人類滅絕的機率超過10%的估計;Amodei上週末更公開呼籲全產業放慢腳步、建立自我監管機制,並多次將生物恐怖主義列為AI最大風險之一。投資人暨AI程式設計新創創辦人Chamath Palihapitiya就在X上半開玩笑地評論:「打造出『我們都要完蛋了』和『快監管我』這些名句的團隊,現在跑去舊金山蓋濕實驗室,我不建議這麼做。」
🎯 實務啟示
對關注AI+生物科技交叉領域的工程師與研究者而言,這則新聞是一個訊號:頭部AI實驗室正把資源實質投入「模型指導真實濕實驗」的閉環驗證,而不只是停留在論文與benchmark層面。與此同時,這類布局與實驗室自身反覆強調的高風險論述之間的張力,也值得作為評估這些公司對外說法時的參考背景。
🔗 來源
- 標題:Anthropic is operating a lab that conducts biology experiments
- 作者/機構:Julie Bort @ TechCrunch AI
- 連結:https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/18/anthropic-is-operating-a-lab-that-conducts-biology-experiments/
#AnthropicAI #AIBiotech #DrugDiscovery #AISafety #LifeSciences #WetLab #AIAlignment #BiotechAI #NovoNordisk #AIRisk
原始資料 TechCrunch AI · 收集於 2026-09-19
摘要原文
Anthropic has a wet biology lab in the Bay Area where it can use its AI models to run physical experiments, it has confirmed to TechCrunch. AI leaders have been promising that AI is the key to curing human disease. Dario Amodei opined just last week: “I believe that AI could cure most major diseases in the next 5–10 years.” To do that, an LLM would have to have methods to test its theories in real life. “We believe that to do biology, the final test is still, and will be for a while, in real lab work,” Anthropic’s head of life sciences, Eric Kauderer-Abrams, told Reuters . “We absolutely are doing that today.” He added that the lab operates like most biotech labs: Anthropic conducts some research there while also working with external partners. This news probably shouldn’t be shocking. Anthropic bought Coefficient Bio, a stealth AI biotech , in April. While Anthropic declined to give specifics on what the wet lab is working on, it did say the main focus was fundamental biology, not drug discovery. Anthropic doesn’t want to give the appearance of competing with the pharma industry, where it has numerous major customers and partners (e.g., it just announced a deal to work with Novo Nordisk on joint drug discovery). Anthropic has already faced backlash for launching products perceived to compete with those of its customers. To that end, Anthropic also launched a Life Sciences Verification Program this week, to give vetted bio researchers access to its most powerful models. It has also published recent reports on some of the research it’s doing to support drug discovery. This includes one report on accelerating protein design and one on uplifting bimolecular modeling . But the world is still reeling from the resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who warned that “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade .” Anthropic’s own alignment lead gave the odds at greater than 10% that AI could exterminate humanity within the next decade. The fervor has grown so intense that CEO Dario Amodei published a post last weekend calling on the industry to slow down and institute self-regulation. He has repeatedly called bioterrorism one of AI’s biggest risks. The juxtaposition of these dire warnings and the wet lab has not gone unnoticed in the tech industry. As investor and AI coding startup founder Chamath Palihapitiya posted on X , somewhat tongue in cheek: “The group behind such hits as: ‘We’re All Going To Die’ and ‘Regulate Me Now’ are building a wet lab in SF. I do not recommend this.”
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