Artificial Intelligence Used to Design Fully Functional Viruses

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

The resulting 16 novel viruses were created to infect bacteria and pose no threat to people. Known as bacteriophages, these viruses infect only specific species of bacteria. The breakthrough has been labelled a "very significant turning point" in science that could unlock a new era for treating disease.

AI tools are rapidly advancing and have already been used to design new antibiotics. But designing a new viable virus from scratch is far more complex. "This is a next step in the complexity that's designable by generative AI," said Brian Hie, assistant professor at Stanford University. "This is the first time generative AI has been used to design a complete genome, something that can replicate and have other functions inside cells."

The technology works similarly to large language models like ChatGPT, which predict sequences of text. In this instance, the AI models — known as Evo1 and Evo2 — predict the language of life rather than words. The models were trained on genetic codes from viruses, bacteria, plants, and people, then refined to produce bacteriophages.

The Stanford researchers picked the most promising 302 AI designs and synthesized them in the lab. Of these, 16 proved effective at killing E. coli bacteria. The success rate was modest, but the researchers emphasize that this is just the beginning.

Experts have also warned that AI-designed viruses raise "urgent" safety and security concerns. As the technology advances, the ability to design biological agents from scratch will require robust governance frameworks to ensure responsible use.