US scientists create first AI-designed viruses

Scientists in the United States have created the first viruses designed by artificial intelligence.

According to The Guardian, researchers at Stanford University used artificial intelligence to design entirely functional viruses capable of reproducing in the laboratory, CE Report quotes Anadolu Agency.

The team employed genome language models—the genetic equivalent of the large language models that power AI chatbots—to design functional genomes for bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria.

In what researchers describe as the first study to design complete viral genomes using AI, the method produced 16 new viable viruses, all engineered to infect bacteria.

The viruses were tested in laboratory petri dishes against E. coli bacteria, where some successfully overcame the defenses of two different E. coli strains.

The researchers emphasized that the viruses pose no threat to humans.

The study was published in the journal Science.

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