Large genome models used to design new viruses
Ars Technica 3 weeks ago 20 ● 4 sources
Researchers at Stanford used large genome models to generate novel bacteriophage genomes that encode functional proteins and exhibit distinct features not easily evolved naturally. The models successfully created viral sequences by training on DNA data, demonstrating that genome-level AI design extends beyond protein engineering to full pathogenic organisms. This capability raises biosecurity concerns about potential misuse if similar models were developed to design viruses targeting larger organisms.