US researchers have used artificial intelligence to create 16 viable viruses, marking a milestone that opens new pathways for drug development and treatments for infections resistant to antibiotics.
To achieve this, scientists trained the AI on libraries of DNA and asked the model to generate recipes for viral genomes. The resulting viruses are bacteriophages, which specifically infect bacteria and are used globally to treat patients with persistent infections. In laboratory tests, a cocktail of these AI-designed viruses successfully killed E coli bugs that were resistant to natural bacteriophages.
While the breakthrough offers hope for saving lives and protecting against drug-resistant bacteria, it has also raised urgent biosecurity questions and fears regarding potential misuse. Experts are concerned that the pace of this technology is outstripping current regulation.