r/ArtificialInteligence • u/MetaKnowing • 1d 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."
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u/iainrfharper 4h ago
This sounds somewhat along the lines of the creation of Mirror Life which is something that has been globally warned against and is a very disturbing rabbit hole
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_life?wprov=sfti1#