Scientists use AI to create new viruses; bringing worries of the tech creating biological weapons, deadly poisons and unstoppable pandemics

Scientists have used AI to design the first complete viral genomes, creating 16 working bacteriophages that kill E. coli. Published in Science, the study used genome language models Evo 1 and Evo 2 to write DNA from scratch. The AI-designed viruses beat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but experts warn biosecurity governance for generative genome design does not yet exist.