Anthropic has established a biology research lab in the San Francisco Bay Area to conduct physical experiments, according to Reuters, and Eric Kauderer-Abrams, the company's Head of Life Sciences, confirmed the lab's existence. He said that to do biology, the final test is still and will be for a while in real lab work, and that Anthropic is doing that today, while also working with external partners when it makes sense. Kauderer-Abrams did not specify what Anthropic is working on, though the company launched a drug discovery program called Claude Science back in June and said it was interested in research pharma companies wouldn't touch because it likely wouldn't pay off financially. A spokesperson told Reuters the lab wasn't created specifically, or perhaps only, for drug discovery. Sources told Reuters one thing Anthropic is looking at is making Claude control robots to carry out scientific experiments. Kauderer-Abrams said the company is in the very early innings of using AI to automate the execution of lab work and that human oversight remains essential for safety, at least for now, adding that Anthropic has yet to run any clinical trial.