AI Agents: Cradle CEO on Biotech's Feedback Loop Reality

Major tech companies are rapidly launching or upgrading products for scientific research, many using AI agents. Google DeepMind, Microsoft, Amazon, NVIDIA, OpenAI, and Anthropic are all involved. This push builds on the explosive growth of AI coding tools. Anthropic reported its company-wide annualized revenue run rate crossed $47 billion in May 2026. OpenAI said its Codex product surpassed 5 million weekly active users by early June. The race has also driven consolidation. SpaceXAI, formerly xAI, agreed to acquire Cursor for $60 billion. However, applying this "coding-agent playbook" to life sciences is different. Wet-lab research has a much slower and more expensive feedback loop. Stef van Grieken, CEO of Cradle, notes that code works or it doesn't, but getting a biomolecule to market takes a long time. So far, the clearest gains in life sciences are in workflows involving documents and data. For example, clinical study reports at Novo Nordisk that once took weeks now draft in minutes, cutting time by over 90%. The bottom line is that AI is transforming research, but the impact varies significantly across different scientific fields.