AI can now invent working biological viruses.
In real world experiments, a team of Stanford researchers demonstrated that a virus with AI-written DNA could target and kill specific bacteria, they announced in a study last week. It opened up a world of possibilities where artificial viruses could be used to cure diseases and fight infections.
But experts say it also opened a Pandora’s box. Bad actors could just as easily use AI to crank out novel bioweapons, keeping doctors and governments on the backfoot with the outrageous pace at which these viruses can be designed, warn Tal Feldman, a Yale Law School student who formerly built AI models for the federal government, and Jonathan Feldman, a computer science and biology researcher at Georgia Tech
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