Anthropic Keeps Humans in the Loop as Claude Operates Biology Lab Despite New Autonomous Tools

Anthropic has built the technical infrastructure for Claude to operate its biology laboratory with minimal human intervention—but has deliberately chosen not to deploy it that way, keeping researchers at the center of all experiments. The company established a Bay Area laboratory in spring 2026 to explore whether Claude could accelerate molecular discovery, and on August 27 unveiled the Model Hardware Standard (MHS), a specification that lets AI agents control robotic arms, liquid handlers, microscopes, and laser systems directly. Yet in practice, human scientists remain essential to every stage: they initiate Claude's investigations, review its candidate hypotheses, perform the actual laboratory work, and oversee all decisions about which results merit further investigation.