Anthropic has quietly set up a Bay Area wet lab for physical biology experiments as it expands its artificial-intelligence push into drug science, Reuters reported Friday in an exclusive, citing two people familiar with the matter and a confirmation from the company’s head of life sciences.
Eric Kauderer-Abrams told Reuters the final test in biology “is still and will be for a while in real lab work,” and described Anthropic’s approach as typical of biotech — some work in its own facilities, some with external partners. A spokesperson later clarified the lab is not for drug discovery specifically. Sources said Anthropic wants Claude to direct robotic units through lab experiments with limited human intervention, while the company stresses human oversight remains essential for safety.
The effort sits beside Anthropic’s stated aim to unlock treatments for rare and “undruggable” conditions the traditional industry may skip financially — including complex antibody designs — while stopping short of running clinical trials so it is not competing head-on with pharma customers. Life sciences is already one of its biggest investment areas by headcount; the firm launched Claude Science software, added Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan to its board, and acquired Coefficient Bio to help build drug-development tools. The lab build arrives as Anthropic researchers warn about catastrophic AI risk and the company prepares f
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