Scientists use AI for the first time to create entirely new viruses

Artificial intelligence crossed an unprecedented scientific frontier: researchers at Stanford University used generative AI to design 16 complete, functional viral genomes that do not exist in nature. The study, published in the journal Science, demonstrates that genomic language models can produce viruses (bacteriophages) capable of infecting and eliminating bacteria in the laboratory.

A double face

On one hand, the advance opens revolutionary medical hopes: AI-designed viruses could become precise weapons against antibiotic-resistant superbugs. On the other, it revives the debate about biosafety risks and the possibility that the technology could be used to create dangerous pathogens.

The regulatory debate

Scientists insist that the viruses created in this experiment do not represent a threat to humans. Even so, the milestone pressures governments and international bodies to update rules on dual-use research (medical and risk) and control access to these tools.

The key figure

16 new viruses. The number of AI-designed pathogens marking the start of a new era in biotechnology.