For the first time, an artificial intelligence system has created a series of previously unknown viruses capable of infecting and eliminating certain types of bacteria. This breakthrough opens up new possibilities for combating bacterial resistance. However, it also raises concerns about the potential misuse of this technology to design biological weapons.
A new study conducted by scientists at Stanford University and the Arc Institute succeeded in having an AI design simple, functional, and previously unseen viruses based on information contained in the genetic sequences of millions of animals, plants, microbes, bacteria, and viruses found in nature. The researchers worked with bacteriophages—microorganisms characterized by relatively small genomes, which are relatively easy to synthesize and manipulate under controlled conditions. These viruses infect only bacteria, making them a tool with enormous biotechnological potential and a promising alternative to antibiotics for combating resistant bacterial infections.
The creation of these entirely new viruses was based on Evo 1 and Evo 2, foundational AI models developed for computational biology applications. Both algorithms were trained on millions of genomes from all domains of life, with the goal of identifying and learning complex evolutionary patterns, including how genes are typically organized, which sequences are conserved, and the biological constraints that allow an organism to remain functional.
Source: wired
