{"slug": "inventor-of-crispr-is-skeptical-about-ais-impact-on-medical-innovation", "title": "Inventor of Crispr is skeptical about AI’s impact on medical innovation", "summary": "Jennifer Doudna, inventor of the Crispr gene-editing tool, expressed skepticism about artificial intelligence replacing human innovation in scientific discovery, challenging claims that AI chatbots like ChatGPT could drive drug discovery. Doudna warned that U.S. leadership in medical research is threatened by federal grant cuts, while pharmaceutical companies increasingly partner with AI firms to accelerate drug development.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...**By Annika Inampudi and Emily Chang, Bloomberg**\n\nThe inventor of the groundbreaking Crispr gene-editing technology is skeptical about artificial intelligence replacing human effort in the realm of scientific discovery, adding to a growing debate over its impact on medical research and innovation.\n\nCrispr-Cas9 gene editing rocked the scientific world when it was first introduced in 2012, earning J[ennifer Doudna, professor of biochemistry at the University of California Berkeley, the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry](https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/10/07/nobel-prize-uc-berkeleys-gene-editing-tool-crispr-wins-chemistry-prize/). In an interview with Bloomberg’s The Circuit with Emily Chang, Doudna challenged the idea that OpenAI Inc.’s ChatGPT might soon get credit for drug discovery.\n\n“I think that innovation is still really in the domain of human beings right now,” Doudna said. “I’m not seeing chatbots coming up with a brand new idea.”\n\nNot everyone agrees. Pharmaceutical companies are striking scores of new licensing deals with AI companies in a bid to accelerate drug development. Anthropic PBC Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei has said it will eventually eliminate “most cancer” by making it easier to tailor treatments to a patient’s DNA.\n\nThe long-term impact of artificial intelligence, including its harms, are yet to be determined. It’s just one of the disruptions facing higher education and scientific research. The Trump Administration has terminated numerous federal grants from the National Institutes of Health, stoking uncertainty about the future health of medical research.\n\nThe cuts challenge US leadership in the global race for scientific discoveries and technological advancements, Doudna said.\n\n“Every dollar that’s been invested from the NIH in research leads to about $2.50 of economic benefit,” she said. “If we don’t continue our investment in science, others will.”\n\nCrispr-Cas9 is a molecular technique that snips out targeted parts of DNA, a biological instruction manual that dictates which proteins the body makes, either replacing them with new sequences or removing the gene entirely. The technology generated global attention for its ethical implications and potential risks. Critics cautioned about potential so-called “designer babies,” whose parents may want to select eye and skin color and other traits, as well as the unintended harms that could result.\n\nDoudna downplayed the likelihood of using the technology to boost intelligence and similar traits, as that work is “still at a very early stage.” Designing a baby is a lot more complicated than people realize, as multiple genes are involved and other factors including the environment also play a role. It’s difficult to tease out the long-term outcomes of changing even one DNA sequence, she said.\n\nWhile the technology is revolutionary, Doudna said it still has a ways to go. For one, the process of editing is “quite involved,” she said. The most common way it’s currently used is expensive and can be unpleasant for patients. And Crispr can sometimes edit the wrong gene sequence or fail to find the target gene.\n\nNew ways to circumvent the limitations are already in the works. Earlier this month, scientists at Columbia University developed a new method to more precisely edit DNA, the New York Times reported.\n\nThe therapy is already starting to find applications in the real world. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the first gene therapy using Crispr in December 2023 for patients with sickle cell disease.\n\n“I feel very excited about where it’s headed, the opportunities to treat people that have rare disease,” Doudna said.\n\nMore stories like this are available on [bloomberg.com](https://www.bloomberg.com)\n\n©2026 Bloomberg L.P.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inventor-of-crispr-is-skeptical-about-ais-impact-on-medical-innovation", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/24/biotech-visionary-is-skeptical-about-ais-impact-on-medical-innovation/", "published_at": "2026-06-24 15:48:36+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-24 16:12:49.359715+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-research", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Jennifer Doudna", "Crispr", "University of California Berkeley", "OpenAI", "ChatGPT", "Anthropic", "Dario Amodei", "National Institutes of Health"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inventor-of-crispr-is-skeptical-about-ais-impact-on-medical-innovation", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inventor-of-crispr-is-skeptical-about-ais-impact-on-medical-innovation.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inventor-of-crispr-is-skeptical-about-ais-impact-on-medical-innovation.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inventor-of-crispr-is-skeptical-about-ais-impact-on-medical-innovation.jsonld"}}