{"id":8779,"date":"2026-08-07T04:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=8779"},"modified":"2026-08-07T04:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:35:13","slug":"ai-creates-16-new-viruses-from-scratch-showing-promise-for-drug-resistance-and-drawing-warnings-about-potential-for-misuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=8779","title":{"rendered":"AI creates 16 new viruses from scratch, showing promise for drug resistance and drawing warnings about potential for misuse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n 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.\n <\/p>

Read more Trump-backed Andy Ogles loses reelection bid and other Tennessee primary results<\/a><\/p>\n

\nThe study, published Thursday in the journal Science, says that genetic sequences from millions of sources \u201cfrom all domains of life\u201d 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.\n <\/p>\n

\n Scientists from Stanford University and the Arc Institute then used the AI to generate thousands of genome combinations within a specific framework \u2013 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.\n <\/p>\n

\n The new viruses are bacteriophages, which infect bacteria but cannot affect humans.\n <\/p>\n

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\nThe study investigated the viruses found on showerheads and toothbrushes.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Ivan Radic<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nYour showerhead and toothbrush are teeming with viruses. But don\u2019t panic \u2013 these microbes could save lives<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

4 min read<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\n According to the research, the genetic library helped the AI \u201clearn the evolutionary constraints\u201d of natural genomes, but the scientists found that one of the new viruses had an aspect that was \u201cevolutionarily distant\u201d \u2014 suggesting that the AI prompted changes that could have taken millions of years for natural evolution to show was possible.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tests showed that a mixture of the new viruses could overcome antibacterial resistance in some of the E. coli strains, something that a \u201ccomparable mixture of naturally sourced\u201d phages could not.\n <\/p>\n

\n This \u201clays out a path for generating adaptive and resilient phage therapies against rapidly evolving pathogens,\u201d the authors wrote.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s a notable scientific milestone, especially as scientists race to combat rising drug resistance within germs such as E. coli.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe breakthrough achieved is significant,\u201d Jordi Garc\u00eda Ojalvo, professor of systems biology at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona, said in a comment to the Science Media Centre.\n <\/p>

Read more White House considering order targeting vaccines and autism despite advisers\u2019 warnings<\/a><\/p>\n

\n But it doesn\u2019t come without hesitation.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAlthough this is promising for life sciences applications, it also raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions,\u201d doctors from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security wrote in a corresponding article published in Science.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists; the governance to safely steer it does not,\u201d they wrote.\n <\/p>\n

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\nJean Lee, a PhD student at Melbourne’s Doherty Institute, displays the superbug Staphylcocus epidermidis on an agar plate in Melbourne on September 4, 2018. – A superbug resistant to all known antibiotics that can cause “severe” infections or even death is spreading undetected through hospital wards across the world, scientists in Australia warned on September 3. Researchers at the University of Melbourne discovered three variants of the multidrug-resistant bug in samples from 10 countries, including strains in Europe that cannot be tamed by any drug currently on the market. (Photo by William WEST \/ AFP) (Photo credit should read WILLIAM WEST\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
William West\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nClimate change is contributing to the rise of superbugs, new UN report says<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

5 min read<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\n The researchers addressed the biosecurity considerations directly in their research \u2014 but the Johns Hopkins doctors wrote that they \u201cengage with biosafety and biosecurity questions more deliberately than most developers of powerful biological AI models.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The new research focused on E. coli bacteria and was in a certain type of virus that can\u2019t affect humans \u2013 and it\u2019s unclear how well the work would apply to other viruses.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the authors of the response article single out one particularly risky area that they say should not be pursued: eukaryote-infecting pathogens, which can cause a variety of infections in humans, including malaria and certain yeast infections.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSuch genomes might encode new pathogens that can infect humans, animals, or plants in ways that cannot be contained by existing countermeasures,\u201d they wrote.\n <\/p>\n

\n Garc\u00eda Ojalvo says the biosafety risk posed by the new research is lower than with some other AI tools, largely because the genomes have to be tested individually after they\u2019re designed and the efficiency rate is low, with just 16 viable viruses from hundreds of thousands that were generated.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is difficult to imagine these models automatically generating viable genomes \u2018out-of-the-box,\u2019\u201d he said.\n <\/p>

Read more Trump did many of the things Republicans criticize Fauci for<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. 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