Benchmark Almanac

BABE

Seed2.0 Lite (0428) 57.9% leads since Apr 2026 Fading

Models reason from experimental results in peer-reviewed biology papers to draw conclusions, with causal and cross-scale inference.

The Seed2.0 card says BABE uses interleaved text and images. Scoring and format fields are guesses from the abstract.

In the authors’ words

The rapid evolution of large language models (LLMs) has expanded their capabilities from basic dialogue to advanced scientific reasoning. However, existing benchmarks in biology often fail to assess a critical skill required of researchers: the ability to integrate experimental results with contextual knowledge to derive meaningful conclusions. To address this gap, we introduce BABE(Biology Arena BEnchmark), a comprehensive benchmark designed to evaluate the experimental reasoning capabilities of biological AI systems. BABE is uniquely constructed from peer-reviewed research papers and real-world biological studies, ensuring that tasks reflect the complexity and interdisciplinary nature of actual scientific inquiry. BABE challenges models to perform causal reasoning and cross-scale inference. Our benchmark provides a robust framework for assessing how well AI systems can reason like practicing scientists, offering a more authentic measure of their potential to contribute to biological research.

Abstract of BABE: Biology Arena BEnchmark (arXiv:2602.05857, CC0)
Made by ByteDance Seed and collaborators (Zhou et al.) Released Feb 2026 Genomics and life sciences Last in a launch post Apr 2026 , dropped before it saturated Last model added Apr 2026
Level
Expert Specialists with years of training, often over hours of work
Scored
Graded by a model A language model scores each response, usually against a rubric.
Answers
Open-ended Free-form text, documents, designs or media judged as a whole.
2
Models scored in lab cards
2
Launch posts list it, from 1 lab
1
System card reports it, from 1 lab

Seed2.0 Lite (0428) leads with 57.9%

Best score per model as labs report them in their own cards. Labs pick their own settings, so these compare less cleanly than independent runs.

  1. 1 Seed2.0 Lite (0428) 57.9%
  2. 2 Seed2.0 Pro 50%
#ModelScoreSettingDateSource
1 Seed2.0 Lite (0428) 57.9% Apr 2026 Model card
2 Seed2.0 Pro 50% Feb 2026 Model card

2 models have held number one since its release in Feb 2026

Lab claims count from the day the card came out, independent runs from the model’s release.

ByteDance Seed
Lab claims Not tested since Apr 2026

Scores over time

All the scores we have, one dot each, so a model tested at several settings appears more than once.

Reported by the lab in its model card Best so far
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 2026 Near the ceiling (85%) Seed2.0 Lite (0428) Seed2.0 Pro 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 2026 Near the ceiling (85%) Seed2.0 Lite (0428) Seed2.0 Pro

Labs headline it less often now, last in Apr 2026

Launch posts from every lab that has listed it, one tick per post. Tall colored ticks include it, and short gray ones leave it out.

ByteDance Seed
DateLaunch postScoreAs the post writes it
28 Apr 2026 Seed2.0 Lite (0428) 57.9 BABE
14 Feb 2026 Seed2.0 Pro 50 BABE

One system card reports it

Besides launch posts, we read the system cards, model cards and technical reports labs publish with a release. They report far more, including safety and frontier-risk tests.

DateDocumentScoreAs the document writes itSection
14 Feb 2026 Seed2.0 Pro model card 50 BABE (Table 3). Its rival columns repeat the BIObench row of Table 13 Capabilities

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