# Ginkgo's autonomous lab, steered by OpenAI's GPT-5, cuts the cost of a lab protein-making recipe by 40%

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/stories/ginkgo-s-autonomous-lab-steered-by-openai-s-gpt-5-cuts-the-cost-of-a-a8937d27
Date: 5 Feb 2026
About: [Ginkgo Bioworks](https://technooptimist.io/companies/ginkgo-bioworks.md) · [Ginkgo Automation and Datapoints](https://technooptimist.io/biotech/ginkgo-automation.md)
Original source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ginkgo-bioworks-autonomous-laboratory-driven-by-openais-gpt-5-achieves-40-improvement-over-state-of-the-art-scientific-benchmark-302680619.html

GPT-5 designed six rounds of experiments that Ginkgo's robots ran, testing 36,000 mixes for cell-free protein production across 580 plates. The best recipe made a standard test protein for $422 per gram versus the $698 previously reported, and Ginkgo now sells it.

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