AI-Designed Viruses, OpenAI’s First Device, and the Social Media Tobacco Playbook

Scientists have used AI to create entirely new viruses for the first time. A study published Thursday in Science by researchers at Stanford and the Arc Institute trained an AI model to recognize patterns in naturally occurring viral DNA, then used it to generate genetic sequences for brand new viruses. After synthesizing those DNA sequences and inserting them into bacteria, the team found the bacteria produced viable viruses capable of infecting other bacteria.

The AI was trained only on bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—and specifically excluded viruses that infect humans, plants, animals, and fungi. As a result, the model cannot generate viruses capable of infecting people. The hosts noted the work does not create a new threat to humans, but acknowledged the headline sounds alarming. "I think a lot of the reaction is just that it feels like a little too soon post-Wuhan, a little too soon post-hugging phase," one host said.