Natural evolution has had four billion years to experiment with living matter. From now on, artificial intelligence will also help expand the catalog of possible and desirable molecules. These so-called ‘language systems’ are no longer limited to producing text or images, as exemplified by ChatGPT or Midjourney. They can now be instructed and utilized to design new proteins, thereby potentially creating improved CRISPR scissors.

The debut of the first AI-invented editing tool occurred last week. Known as OpenCRISPR, it is the brainchild of the California-based company Profluent and was promptly made available to the scientific community.

For further details, please refer to: the bioRxiv preprint, the news in the New York Times, and a Nature news feature on how “AI tools are designing entirely new proteins that could transform medicine”.