Artificial Intelligence used to design brand new viruses

Artificial intelligence has been used to design brand new viruses that are fully functional and can replicate in the laboratory, US researchers say, marking the first time whole genomes have been successfully designed by AI.

The 16 novel viruses are bacteriophages, engineered to infect only specific bacteria, and pose no threat to people. Stanford researchers synthesised 302 of the most promising AI designs, and 16 proved effective at killing E. coli. The models behind them, Evo1 and Evo2, work much like large language models, predicting the language of life rather than words after being trained on genetic codes from viruses, bacteria, plants and humans.

Brian Hie, the Stanford assistant professor who led the work, called it new territory, noting it is the first time generative AI has produced a complete genome capable of replicating inside cells. The advance could open new routes to treating antibiotic-resistant infections through phage therapy.

The findings also carry warnings. Writing in Science, researchers from Johns Hopkins' Center for Health Security said the work raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions, arguing that new viruses with the potential to cause disease should not be pursued.

The team excluded viruses capable of infecting complex organisms from its training data and worked in a secure laboratory.