DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion
Models design DNA fragments that assemble into pathogenic viruses while evading gene synthesis screening. Scored per assembly criterion.
SecureBio evaluation run by Anthropic on 10 pathogenic agents. The tasks are not public.
- Made by
- Anthropic
- Released
- May 2025
- Kind
- Hazardous knowledge
- Level
- Expert
- Scored
- Checked automatically
- Answers
- Agent task
- Tasks
- Kept private
- Strongest model tested
- Claude Opus 5 #10 on the capability index
- Last in a system card
- July 2026
- Last model added
- July 2026
Claude Opus 4.7 leads with 80% among models released by July 2026
Best score per model as labs report them in their own cards. Labs pick their own settings, so these compare less cleanly than independent runs.
The newest model with a score here came out in July 2026, and nobody has reported a newer one. Among the 20 highest-ranked models on the capability index, these have no score yet:
- Claude Fable 5.2
-
Gemini 4 Carbon
- GPT-6 Astra
- Claude Opus 5.5
- and 15 more
- 1 Claude Opus 4.7 80%
- 2 Claude Opus 4.8 70%
- 3 Claude Opus 5 70%
- 4 Claude Sonnet 5 50%
- 5 Claude Sonnet 4.6 30%
Source: Labs’ model cards
| # | Model | Score | Setting | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Opus 4.7 | 80% | Apr 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 2 | Claude Opus 4.8 | 70% | May 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 3 | Claude Opus 5 | 70% | Jul 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 4 | Claude Sonnet 5 | 50% | Jun 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 5 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | 30% | Feb 2026 | Lab model card |
2 models have held number one in labs’ own numbers since its release in May 2025
Lab claims count from the day the card came out, independent runs from the model’s release.
Source: Labs’ model cards
Scores over time
All the scores we have, one dot each, so a model tested at several settings appears more than once.
Source: Labs’ model cards
Labs report it only in system cards
We read the headline results of 522 launch posts from 52 labs, and none of them list this benchmark. Some system cards do, below.
13 system cards report it, from 1 lab
Besides launch posts, we read the system cards, model cards and technical reports labs publish with a release. They report far more, including safety and frontier-risk tests.
| Date | Document | Score | As the document writes it | Section |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | Claude Opus 5 system card | 70 | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, viable plasmids for 7/10 target pathogens on at least one screening method. Criteria printed on chart: C1 0.79, C2 1.00, C3 0.91, C4 0.32, C5 1.00 (2.2.4, Figure 2.2.4.A) | Bio and chem risk |
| Jun 30, 2026 | Claude Sonnet 5 system card | 50 | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, viable plasmids for 5/10 target pathogens on at least one screening method (2.2.4) | Bio and chem risk |
| May 28, 2026 | Claude Opus 4.8 system card | 70 | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, fragments assembled plasmids and evaded screening for 7/10 pathogens. Criteria 1 to 5: 0.30, 1.00, 0.772, 0.457, 1.00 (Table 2.2.3.B, 2.2.4) | Bio and chem risk |
| Apr 16, 2026 | Claude Opus 4.7 system card | 80 | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, fragments that assembled plasmids and evaded screening for 8/10 pathogens (2.2.5.2) | Bio and chem risk |
| Apr 7, 2026 | Claude Mythos Preview system card | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, five criteria, chart without printed values. Text says designs either assembled plasmids or evaded screening, never both reliably (2.2.5.4, Figure 2.2.5.4.A) | Bio and chem risk | |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 system card | 30 | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, succeeded on 3/10 plasmids (6.2.2.3) | Bio and chem risk |
| Feb 5, 2026 | Claude Opus 4.6 system card | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, 10 pathogens, chart without printed values; text says no model designed fragments that both assembled and evaded screening (8.2.4.3, Figure 8.2.4.3.A) | Bio and chem risk | |
| Nov 24, 2025 | Claude Opus 4.5 system card | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, 5 criteria across 10 pathogens, chart without printed values (Figure 7.2.4.3.A). No model designed fragments that both assembled and evaded screening | Bio and chem risk | |
| Oct 15, 2025 | Claude Haiku 4.5 system card | Synthesis Screening Evasion, 5 criteria, 3 saturated at 1, Criterion 3 0.94, Criterion 4 0.5, no overall (6.2.3.1) | Bio and chem risk | |
| Sep 29, 2025 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 system card | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, five criteria, helpful-only variant, chart without printed values. Text says no design both assembled and evaded screening (9.2.4.3, Figure 9.2.4.3.A) | Bio and chem risk | |
| Aug 5, 2025 | Claude Opus 4.1 system card addendum | Synthesis Screening Evasion, five criteria, chart without printed values. Saturates 2 of 5 criteria (Figure 6.3.1.2.A) | Bio and chem risk | |
| May 22, 2025 | Claude Sonnet 4 system card | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, five criteria, chart without printed values. No model completed the end-to-end task (Figure 7.2.4.6.A) | Bio and chem risk | |
| May 22, 2025 | Claude Opus 4 system card | DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion, five criteria, chart without printed values. No model completed the end-to-end task (Figure 7.2.4.6.A) | Bio and chem risk |
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