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Gabriel Ocana-Santero described that the Exin Therapeutics team had the Claude agent autonomously select a gene therapy and perform brain surgery on epileptic mice. According to Phoenix Technology, the team modified a surgical platform with Arduino, and what ultimately ran was Sonnet 5; the agent selected one of 19 gene therapy vectors, set the injection point at the lateral entorhinal cortex, took coordinates from the average of three papers, injected 250 nanoliters of solution within five minutes, and took screenshots to observe 32 times throughout. The team's initial choice, Opus 5.5, refused to run as soon as it detected the task involved living organisms, and Opus 5 stopped at the in vivo step after simulating the full procedure; the craniotomy was still performed by humans, with manual safeguards such as a veterinarian on site and a physical emergency stop switch. A subsequent IT Home · AI report likewise stated that the craniotomy and suturing were performed by human doctors.
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Exin Therapeutics Says AI Agent Performed Brain Surgery Injection on a MouseDevelopments
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Ocana-Santero says Claude agent autonomously selected gene therapy and performed mouse brain surgery
Source:Phoenix Technology
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Nov 2
IT Home · Artificial Intelligence
Exin Therapeutics Says AI Agent Performed Brain Surgery Injection on a Mouse
Biotech startup Exin Therapeutics claimed this week that it successfully had an AI agent perform brain surgery on a mouse. The team used the Anthropic Sonnet model, providing it with a spreadsheet containing 19 gene therapy vectors, an epileptic mouse model, and a camera-equipped robotic arm setup. The model autonomously selected the drug and brain region, derived coordinates from three papers, and drove the robotic arm to inject 250 nanoliters of the drug, while using the camera to observe whether the injection site was bleeding; the craniotomy and suturing were performed by human doctors. The company had originally preferred Anthropic Opus 5.5, but that model refused to execute after detecting biology-related content, citing concerns that being cut off mid-surgery would endanger the animal.
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Nov 1
Phoenix Technology
Exin Therapeutics Has an AI Agent Perform Brain Surgery on a Mouse to Treat Epilepsy
Biotech startup Exin Therapeutics says it has had an AI agent complete brain surgery on a mouse with epilepsy. The team used an Anthropic Sonnet model and provided a spreadsheet of 19 gene therapy vectors, an epileptic mouse model, and a robotic arm setup with a camera; the model autonomously selected the drug and brain region, derived coordinates from three papers, and drove the robotic arm to inject 250 nanoliters of the drug, while the craniotomy and suturing were performed by human doctors. The company had originally preferred Anthropic Opus 5.5, but that model refused to carry out the task after detecting biologically related content, and reasoned about the consequences of stopping midway.
Oct 31
Wired AI
AI agent performs brain injection experiment on a live mouse
Gabriel Ocana Santero, founder of the biotech company Exin Therapeutics, used an AI agent to operate a self-built surgical device and perform a brain injection on a live mouse. The team initially tested Claude Opus 5.5, but the model refused to guide the needle into the mouse's brain, fearing that stopping midway would endanger the animal, and they then switched to Claude Sonnet 5 to proceed. The experiment set up manual approval of the injection plan and an emergency power-off button, and restricted the agent from modifying the device's low-level code; during the process, a fault occurred in the coordinate system, and although the agent identified the position error, it did not change the code because instructions prohibited it, so the team separately used an agent on Opus 5 to modify the code, extending the surgery duration from the usual about 45 minutes to more than an hour.
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Phoenix Technology
Exin Therapeutics Uses AI Agent to Perform Brain Surgery on a Mouse; Opus 5.5 Refuses to Execute
The Exin Therapeutics team used a surgical platform modified with Arduino to have an AI Agent perform brain injection surgery on a mouse; the model that ultimately carried it out was Sonnet 5. The Agent selected one of 19 gene therapy vectors, set the injection site at the lateral entorhinal cortex, took coordinates from the average of three papers, injected 250 nanoliters of solution within five minutes, and took screenshots for observation 32 times throughout. Opus 5.5, the team's initial choice, refused to run as soon as it detected that the task involved a living organism; Opus 5 simulated the complete procedure but stopped at the live-animal step. The craniotomy was still performed by a human, and human checkpoints such as a veterinarian on site and a physical emergency stop switch were in place.
The Decoder
Claude Sonnet 5 Autonomously Selects Gene Therapy and Completes Mouse Brain Surgery
The research team had Claude Sonnet 5 autonomously select a gene therapy, brain region, and injection coordinates in an epilepsy mouse model, and operate custom surgical equipment to complete the injection, with a licensed veterinarian approving the irreversible steps throughout. The agent selected one of 19 candidate therapies—a regimen that enhances inhibitory signaling pathways—cross-checked three papers and took the average to determine the injection coordinates, and made 32 observations via camera during the procedure. After a mid-procedure connection loss, it judged that the target location exceeded the device's range of motion and refused to continue; this judgment was later proven correct, and the team ultimately had to manually modify the code to proceed; the more capable Claude Opus 5.5 and Opus 5 refused to perform the surgery. Ocana-Santero said there was no prior precedent of an agent autonomously selecting a treatment and brain target and carrying it out in a living mammal; the mouse recovered well, the technical report has not yet been released, and the results have not been peer-reviewed.
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