Anthropic has confirmed to TechCrunch that it operates a wet biology lab in the Bay Area where researchers use the company's own AI models to conduct physical experiments — a significant escalation of AI labs' ambitions beyond software.
"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 facilities: Anthropic conducts some research there while also collaborating with external partners.
The confirmation follows Anthropic's April acquisition of Coefficient Bio, a stealth AI biotech startup. The company declined to specify what the wet lab is currently working on, but said the primary focus is fundamental biology rather than drug discovery — a careful distinction given Anthropic's role as a major technology provider to the pharmaceutical industry.
Anthropic has recently announced a partnership with Novo Nordisk on joint drug discovery, and the company is keen to avoid the appearance of competing with its own customers. The tension has grown more pointed, however, as Anthropic's own researchers have issued dire warnings about AI's potential dangers. Researcher Jacob Coxon recently resigned, stating that "the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade." Anthropic's alignment lead has estimated the odds of AI causing human extinction within the next decade at greater than 10%.
CEO Dario Amodei published a blog post last weekend calling on the industry to slow down and institute self-regulation, and has repeatedly called bioterrorism one of AI's biggest risks. The juxtaposition of those warnings with operating a wet lab has drawn sharp commentary.
"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," posted investor and AI startup founder Chamath Palihapitiya on X.
Alongside the lab, Anthropic also launched a Life Sciences Verification Program this week, granting vetted biological researchers access to its most powerful models. The company has also published research reports on accelerating protein design and uplifting bimolecular modeling.
The move represents a notable shift for AI labs: from building models that scientists use remotely, to running physical experiments with those models in-house. If AI-driven wet lab research proves effective, it could fundamentally change how pharmaceutical and biotech research is conducted — and who controls the most critical layer of the process.
