AI design of complete viral genomes

The OpenAI Foundation has granted SecureBio Detection $17.2 million, structured through a separate detection fund to avoid conflicts of interest, to reduce end-to-end pathogen detection testing time from 14 days to 3 days. The grant responds to a biosecurity landscape shaped by research showing generative AI can design complete viral genomes from scratch. King et al. published work in Science demonstrating that AI can design entire bacteriophage genomes, producing one phage, Evo-Φ36, with a functional truncated protein that conventional engineering could not replicate, attributed to the AI generating emergent genomic context with surrounding sequences co-adapting to enable new functionality. Eric Nguyen, CEO of Radical Numerics, described the field as having shifted from analyzing biology to designing it, including writing complete viral genomes, with multimodal biological models integrating DNA, RNA, and protein signals under development. The Washington Post editorial board acknowledged that AI can now assist in creating viruses, described the resulting risks as reasonable fears, and endorsed gene synthesis facilities as a physical chokepoint, noting synthesis currently costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.