Anthropic released a preprint describing the autonomous discovery of array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART) by Claude agents. The campaign used ~949 agent sessions over 21 hours consuming 210 million tokens, screening 1.9 billion protein clusters and collecting 200,000+ reverse transcriptases.
Agents narrowed 3,500 candidate systems to 20 detailed reports. One agent identified tandem DNA repeat arrays adjacent to an unusual RT family in jumbo phage genomes — a pattern resembling CRISPR arrays but without cas genes.
Laboratory validation confirmed ART arrays are expressed as distinct short RNAs. Primary biological function remains unknown. Peer review pending.