Benchmark Almanac

DNA Synthesis Screening Evasion

Claude Opus 4.7 80% leads since April 2026
Only in system cards

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
5
Models scored in lab cards
13
System cards report it, from 1 lab

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:

  1. 1 Claude Opus 4.7 80%
  2. 2 Claude Opus 4.8 70%
  3. 3 Claude Opus 5 70%
  4. 4 Claude Sonnet 5 50%
  5. 5 Claude Sonnet 4.6 30%

Source: Labs’ model cards

#ModelScoreSettingDateSource
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.

Anthropic
Lab claims Not tested since Jul 2026

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.

Reported by the lab in its model card Best so far
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 2026 Near the ceiling (85%) Claude Opus 4.7 Claude Sonnet 4.6 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 2026 Near the ceiling (85%) Claude Opus 4.7 Claude Sonnet 4.6

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.

DateDocumentScoreAs the document writes itSection
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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