OpenAI, PerturbAI and Scripps run thousands of GPT-Rosalind agents on a mouse brain CRISPR atlas

OpenAI, PerturbAI and Scripps Research published a study on 21 October 2026 using thousands of parallel AI agents powered by GPT-Rosalind to interpret a whole-brain in vivo CRISPR Perturb-seq atlas spanning millions of mouse brain cells. Each agent examined a single gene disruption, analysed cell-type-resolved expression changes, searched scientific literature and wrote a structured report. The full run finished in 32 minutes, work the team estimated would take human researchers months to a year, and compiled the outputs into an open reasoning atlas with Codex MCP endpoints.

When the team compared one agent given the entire dataset against distributed agents at the same model and compute budget, the single agent cited only 11 literature references at the largest workload while the distributed agents cited more than 700. In blinded evaluations, human experts preferred the distributed-agent reports 75% of the time.

The agents highlighted two disease leads for follow-up lab experiments. First, while disrupting Tsc1 or Tsc2 had similar effects across most neurons, disrupting Tsc2 in the cerebellum altered dozens of neuronal-communication genes where Tsc1 produced little change, matching clinical links between TSC2 mutations and cerebellar symptoms in tuberous sclerosis. Second, disrupting DCTN1, a neuronal cargo-transport gene mutated in Perry syndrome, raised cholesterol-synthesis gene expression, pointing to cholesterol transport as a candidate mechanism in neurodegeneration.