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AI is now opening new paths in the world of science also. Anthropic claims that its AI model Claude has identified a biological system in the bacteriophage virus that may have some characteristics like CRISPR. But controversy has also started over this alleged discovery. A scientist says that he has been researching on this system for years. After all, what is ART and how big is this discovery? Know
AI discovered new biological system in virus? Know the whole story.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer limited to just coding or mathematics. AI companies are also progressing rapidly in the field of biology. Recently Anthropic claimed that its AI model Claude has identified a unique biological system in the bacteriophage virus. The company named it ART (Array-Associated Reverse Transcriptases). This system looks somewhat like CRISPR, which is a famous tool for gene editing.
This announcement in September became a topic of discussion in scientific circles. But soon a researcher objected that they had been working on the same system for years. Due to this, questions are being raised on the originality of the discovery of AI. However, this claim of Anthropic has not yet been proven in the laboratory and has not even been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
What did Anthropic say?
According to Anthropic, Claude identified an unusual pattern in viruses that infect bacteria. Nearly 950 AI agents screened more than two lakh reverse transcriptase enzymes. After about 21 hours of analysis, a possible candidate was found. The company says that this system has some features like CRISPR. CRISPR has revolutionized genetic research and treatment of some diseases. However, scientists have not yet proven whether art can actually do gene editing or not.
Scientist’s opposition and root of controversy
Mario Rodriguez Mestre, a researcher at Copenhagen University in Denmark, claimed that his team has been studying this same biological system for years. He made extensive use of Cloud during his doctoral research and also shared unpublished content. Mestre questions whether Anthropic’s discovery was completely independent or whether his interactions influenced it.
Anthropic’s response and current situation
Anthropic clarified that its model was not trained on user transcripts. According to the company, Cloud’s agents look for patterns in genetic databases, formulate hypotheses and conduct lab tests along with providing initial direction to scientists. Anthropic also recognized that the basic reverse transcriptase was already known.
His contribution was to recognize patterns of repetitive DNA sequences, pointing it to a new system. Yet this is just the beginning. How the system works and what is its practical use is not yet clear. The research has not even been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
About the Author
Ram Mohan Mishra is an active journalist in the automotive world of digital media and has been working continuously in the field of auto journalism since 2021. Presently he is handling the auto desk of News18 Hindi as Senior Sub-Editor.
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