Scientists at Stanford University have used artificial intelligence to design 16 new viruses capable of being reproduced in a laboratory, a breakthrough intended to help combat antibiotic-resistant infections but one that has prompted warnings from biosecurity experts about the risks of the technology.
The BBC reports that the experiment relied on AI models called Evo1 and Evo2, which differ from text-based systems like ChatGPT in that they are trained to predict the genetic codes of viruses, bacteria, plants and even humans. Researchers used the models to generate hundreds of designs for a type of virus known as a bacteriophage, which targets E. coli bacteria. Of those designs, 16 were successfully...
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