AI-Powered Genome Models Can Now Design New Viruses

Most AI research in biology has focused on designing proteins, but large genome models trained on DNA have now been used to generate viral genomes. The resulting viruses infect bacteria and closely resemble known viruses, yet they carry distinctive features that would be difficult to evolve naturally. The Stanford researchers behind the work warn that similar AI systems could eventually be used to design viruses targeting vertebrates, and they urge early preparation for that possibility.