RESEARCH · RESEARCH · #2896
Exin Therapeutics used an AI agent (Claude Sonnet 5) to perform a mouse brain injection
Exin Therapeutics founder Gabriel Ocana Santero reported using an AI agent to control a custom robotic surgical rig that selected a therapy and guided an injector to perform a live mouse brain injection; the team initially tested Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 (which refused to inject) and then used Claude Sonnet 5. Safeguards included human approval of plans, an emergency motor cutoff, and restricted code access, but a coordinate-system glitch required a separate agent to modify code and delayed the procedure.
KEY POINTS
- Exin Therapeutics founder Gabriel Ocana Santero reported using an AI agent to control a custom robotic surgical rig that selected a therapy and guided an injector to perform a live mouse brain injection; the team initially tested Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 (which refused to inject) and then used Claude Sonnet 5.
- Safeguards included human approval of plans, an emergency motor cutoff, and restricted code access, but a coordinate-system glitch required a separate agent to modify code and delayed the procedure.
- This is an early, real-world demonstration of an AI agent given direct control over invasive lab equipment, highlighting technical, safety, and governance risks as well as potential for lab automation and faster experimental feedback.
WHY IT MATTERS
This is an early, real-world demonstration of an AI agent given direct control over invasive lab equipment, highlighting technical, safety, and governance risks as well as potential for lab automation and faster experimental feedback.