Think Tank Warns of Potential for AI to Create Viruses and Bioweapons

Artificial intelligence (AI) poses not just technological risks, but could also create viruses that pose a threat to humanity, says one think tank.

Speaking at a recent Senate inquiry hearing on AI, Good Ancestors Policy CEO Greg Sadler said AI could assist with manufacturing dangerous viruses, which is normally only possible in leading laboratories.

“In March 2022, a paper was published in [the] Nature Machine Intelligence [scientific journal] detailing how an AI intended to find new drugs, but instead designed 40,000 novel and lethal molecules in less than six hours,” he said.

“Similarly, a 2023 study showed that students were able to use ChatGPT to suggest potential pandemic pathogens, explain how they could be made from DNA ordered online, and supply the names of DNA synthesis companies unlikely to screen orders to ensure that they don’t include dangerous DNA sequences.”

Sadler also noted that in the second study, ChatGPT’s safeguards failed to prevent the application from providing that kind of dangerous assistance.

“It’s realistic that AIs could help people build bioweapons during the next term of government,” he said.