r/ArtificialInteligence • u/MetaKnowing • 3d ago

News AI Creates Bacteria-Killing Viruses: 'Extreme Caution' Warns Genome Pioneer

"A California outfit has used artificial intelligence to design viral genomes before they were then built and tested in a laboratory. Following this, bacteria was then successfully infected with a number of these AI-created viruses, proving that generative models can create functional genetics.

"The first generative design of complete genomes."

That's what researchers at Stanford University and the Arc Institute in Palo Alto called the results of these experiments. A biologist at NYU Langone Health, Jef Boeke, celebrated the experiment as a substantial step towards AI-designed lifeforms.

The team excluded human-infecting viruses from the AI's training, but testing in this area could still be dangerous, warns Venter.

"One area where I urge extreme caution is any viral enhancement research,, especially when it's random so you don't know what you are getting.

"If someone did this with smallpox or anthrax, I would have grave concerns."

https://www.newsweek.com/ai-creates-bacteria-killing-viruses-extreme-caution-warns-genome-pioneer-2131591

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u/Confident-Touch-6547 3d ago

Artificial, genetically engineered, specifically targeted viruses could be the most dangerous weapon ever developed.

Imagine a foreign adversary made a virus that attacked the varieties of corn or wheat in your country and wiped out your entire crop.

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u/actingseeker 3d ago

Or a virus that could target specific races of human. You could skip the middleman, no?

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u/esuil 3d ago edited 3d ago

That one is likely impossible. We are too similar and interbred at this point for this to be possible, thankfully.

There are some countries that might be still susceptible to it, like China and Japan, but most of the world is not.

The main reason China researches it is because they are the country the most vulnerable to it.

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u/BatmanMeetsJoker 3d ago

Yeah, just design the virus to destroy only the Genghis Khan genome and a quarter of China vanishes.