How Real Is the Threat of AI Starting the Next Pandemic?
This article explores the growing concerns regarding the potential for AI models to assist in the creation of dangerous pathogens. It highlights recent research where AI was used to design viral genomes and discusses the broader biosecurity implications of rapidly advancing generative AI.
Why it matters
It addresses the critical intersection of AI safety and global health security, raising questions about the need for guardrails on dual-use technology.
A clear check on AI-made viruses is the limit of existing knowledge about what makes viruses dangerous.
Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani / The Atlantic. Source: Getty. September 11, 2026, 1:12 PM ET Share Save Last month, a team of scientists published a high-profile paper describing how they’d taught an AI model to help produce brand-new, deadly viruses. The AI—a “genome-language model” trained on DNA sequences—had designed multiple new genomes that scientists then synthesized into functional viruses. And some of those viruses were capable of killing bacteria in a dish.
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