Scientists trained artificial intelligence on libraries of DNA and then asked the model to create recipes for viral genomes. Sixteen of them were viable, yielding new viruses.
For the first time, scientists have used artificial intelligence to create new kinds of viruses, raising hopes for medical advances while also raising the disturbing possibility that the technology could someday be used to invent dangerous pathogens.
It also sounds like it needs regulations that probably won’t work anyway.
Can you imagine what bad people can do with this? We won’t need bombs to destroy the world.
The New York Times
But the new study, published Thursday in the journal Science, goes well beyond duplicating viral genes. Scientists at the Arc Institute, a research organization in Palo Alto, Calif., taught A.I. to recognize patterns of DNA structure in nature, and then to use that data to write recipes for entirely new viruses.
The researchers followed those recipes to create DNA molecules, which they inserted into bacteria. The modified bacteria then produced viruses never seen in nature. The viruses were able to infect other bacteria, demonstrating that they were viable.
We now have AI gain-of-function. Isn’t that just peachy keen. It would be fabulous if you could trust everyone.
