AI Turbocharges Metagenomi’s CRISPR Quest

Metagenomi adopts AWS Inferentia to speed CRISPR discovery and reshape gene editing

10 Dec 2025

Metagenomi has adopted Amazon Web Services’ Inferentia AI chips to accelerate its search for new CRISPR systems, signalling how artificial intelligence is reshaping the pace of genetic discovery.

By running high performance models on the specialised cloud hardware, the California based biotech can generate and analyse more than a million potential gene editing proteins at higher speed. Reuters reports that the shift has reduced computing costs by more than half while widening the company’s discovery capacity.

The partnership reflects a broader trend in life sciences, where the speed of data processing is becoming a central measure of competitiveness. “Biology is increasingly a data scale problem,” an AWS representative said, noting the rising importance of computing power in research.

Other companies are pursuing similar strategies. Life Edit has disclosed plans to embed machine learning in its discovery pipelines, and several research groups are adopting comparable digital methods. Analysts say gene editing companies are starting to operate more like technology firms, relying on algorithms and cloud systems to move beyond the limits of traditional laboratory work.

Rapid adoption of AI also brings challenges. Tools generated by machine learning require extensive testing to ensure safety and accuracy, while regulators are still developing ways to assess synthetic biological systems without natural equivalents. Experts argue that faster discovery must be matched with strong oversight to address biosecurity and ethical concerns.

Even so, researchers widely expect the convergence of AI and CRISPR to open new possibilities in medicine, agriculture and biotechnology. Attention now focuses on how quickly discovery platforms are evolving and how these tools may reshape the sector in the years ahead.