OpenAI has acquired Orchestra Bio, a startup building AI agents to help pharmaceutical companies manage drug development, the ChatGPT maker shared exclusively with Axios.

Why it matters: Rival AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic are both pushing into science as they look to expand beyond their core competencies in coding and cybersecurity.

State of play: OpenAI will integrate Orchestra's team and technology into Rosalind, its suite of AI models and tools designed for life sciences researchers, the company said.

Orchestra's platform allows scientists to delegate tasks like monitoring studies, tracking drug development timelines and identifying potential delays to AI agents.

Both companies aim to deploy agents that can connect scientific findings with the decisions and next steps required to advance potential treatments.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Between the lines: AI companies don't just want to increase productivity, they want to say they are responsible for, say, curing cancer,…