By Bloomberg | wordpress@medianewsgroup.com | Bloomberg

PUBLISHED: June 24, 2026

By Annika Inampudi and Emily Chang, Bloomberg

The 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.

Crispr-Cas9 gene editing rocked the scientific world when it was first introduced in 2012, earning Jennifer Doudna, professor of biochemistry at the University of California Berkeley, the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 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.

“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.”