Anthropic announced on October 16, 2026, that researchers used Claude to design more efficient quantum circuits for eight computational primitives, reducing resource requirements.
Closed-Loop Circuit Design
According to Anthropic, researchers gave Claude plain-language specifications for eight quantum circuits across chemistry, optimization, physics simulation, and number theory. An automated evaluator checked and scored each design in a closed loop without human intervention between rounds.
The work was led by Andi Gu as part of Anthropic's STEM Fellows Program, with mentorship from quantum physicist Alek Kemeny and in collaboration with Susanne Yelin and Mikhail Lukin of Harvard University and QuEra Computing. Anthropic stated that Claude Mythos 5 successfully operated in this closed-loop system to discover novel designs.
Elliptic-Curve and Optimization Improvements
Anthropic reported that Claude produced a new reversible implementation of divsteps with no stored branch history for elliptic-curve point addition. One circuit in this family uses 12% more qubits but 17x fewer gates compared to the smallest previous design.
For quantum optimization via decoded quantum interferometry, Claude replaced the extended Euclidean algorithm with Berlekamp-Massey decoding. Anthropic said these optimizations reduced the number of gates in the decoder by a factor of 12 relative to previous constructions.
Key facts and where they come from
- Anthropic gave Claude plain-language specifications for eight quantum circuits across various fields.
We gave Claude plain-language specifications for eight such circuits, drawn from chemistry, optimization, physics simulation, and number theory
- Claude Mythos 5 worked in a closed loop proposing designs and receiving feedback scores.
We found that Claude Mythos 5 could successfully work in a closed loop, proposing a circuit design, receiving feedback and a score from the evaluator program
- One of Claude's elliptic-curve designs used 12% more qubits and 17x fewer gates than the smallest previous design.
Compared with the smallest previous design, one circuit in the family uses 12% more qubits but 17x fewer gates.
- The research project was led by Andi Gu under Anthropic's STEM Fellows Program.
This work was led by Andi Gu as part of Anthropic’s STEM Fellows Program
