AI creates 16 new viruses from scratch, showing promise for drug resistance and drawing warnings about potential for misuse | CNN

Scientists used an artificial intelligence program to create new viral genomes that are different from any known natural viruses and that targeted specific hosts, according to a new study. The development is a hopeful step toward medical advances, but it also raises concerns around the potential for misuse. The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, says that genetic sequences from millions of sources “from all domains of life” served as the language library for the AI tool Evo, much like ChatGPT and other language models are trained on large sets of existing text material. Scientists from Stanford University and the Arc Institute then used the AI to generate thousands of genome combinations within a specific framework – specifically one that could be hosted by an E. coli bacteria cell. Of the thousands of genomes that the AI generated, scientists built and tested about 300 in the lab and found that 16 were viable viruses. The new viruses are bacteriophages, which infect bacteria but cannot affect humans. Your showerhead and toothbrush are teeming with viruses. But don’t panic – these microbes could save lives According to the research, the genetic library help