Scientists from Stanford University and the Arc Institute used an artificial intelligence program to create new viral genomes that are different from any known natural viruses and that targeted specific hosts. The development is a hopeful step toward medical advances, but it also raises concerns around the potential for misuse.
Medical Advances and Biosafety Concerns
The study, published in the journal Science, says that genetic sequences from millions of sources served as the language library for the AI tool Evo. The AI generated thousands of genome combinations within a specific framework, and scientists built and tested about 300 in the lab, finding that 16 were viable viruses. These new viruses are bacteriophages, which infect bacteria but cannot affect humans.
Tests showed that a mixture of the new viruses could overcome antibacterial resistance in some of the E. coli strains, something that a comparable mixture of naturally sourced phages could not. This lays out a path for generating adaptive and resilient phage therapies against rapidly evolving pathogens.
However, the ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions. Doctors from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security wrote that the governance to safely steer this technology does not exist.
Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.
