Artificial Intelligence used to design brand new viruses

Nom Chompsky

Nom Chompsky

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Artificial Intelligence has been used to design brand new viruses that are fully functional and can replicate in the laboratory, say US researchers.

It is the first time whole genomes have been successfully designed by AI.

The resulting 16 novel viruses were created to infect bacteria and pose no threat to people.

The breakthrough has been labelled a "very significant turning point" in science that could unlock a new era for treating disease. But experts have also warned AI-designed viruses raise "urgent" safety and security concerns.

AI tools are rapidly advancing and have already been used to design new antibiotics.

But that is relatively simple compared with designing a new viable virus from scratch.

"This is a next step in the complexity that's designable by generative AI, this is the first time generative AI has been used to design a complete genome, it's something that can replicate and have other functions inside cells… this was new territory for us," Brian Hie, assistant professor at Stanford University, told the BBC.
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www.bbc.com

Artificial Intelligence used to design brand new viruses

Scientists made 16 successful viruses that had their genetic code designed by artificial intelligence.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Pretty cool idea.

Crafting a virus which targets the more common cancers, etc, would have significant impact.


EmmanuelGoldstein said:
Covid-27 anyone?
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10+billion viral exposures a day is common for pretty much every human on the planet. As flawed as it is, our generalist immune system does a deent job.
 
rustypup said:
Pretty cool idea.

Crafting a virus which targets the more common cancers, etc, would have significant impact.



10+billion viral exposures a day is common for pretty much every human on the planet. As flawed as it is, our generalist immune system does a deent job.
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My main concern is China, and we've just heard how much better their AI is than the Americans.
What stops them from creating a super virus, that kills us all.
 
EmmanuelGoldstein said:
My main concern is China, and we've just heard how much better their AI is than the Americans.
What stops them from creating a super virus, that kills us all.
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China's last offensive was before I was born. If they f**k up to this extent it'd likely be recklessness instead of malice.
These days I'd be more concerned about the Americans and the toddlers running that schithole with the current crop of sycophants. It's also pretty much common knowledge now that we would have seen nukes used in Iran if it wasn't for a few people in the pentagon still clinging onto sanity.

They're also getting dommer at an astounding rate and the days of scientists flocking to the US for opportunities are officially over, the rest of the world are now taking in the cream of the crop.
 
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Werner1975 said:
This scares the shyte out of me - Bio-terrorists that could create something that could end a life.
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Mixing vibe-coding with the creation of artificial microscopic molecular machines and/or DNA instructions that appear from out of nowhere on a planet where no existing code for over 3 Billions years of evolution has ever encountered it... what could possibly go wrong? Look the bright side: The need to solve cancer disappears when the people disappear.

People in astronomy circles love to look and think bigger when they talk about the fermi paradox, the answer might be right underneath (or in) our noses.

EDIT, movie idea:
Imagine a future where people have to "update" themselves with daily/weekly/monthly vaccine updates to patch against the latest strain of virulent code that can kill, manipulate, cripple or simply "change" you in millions of different ways.
 
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RaptorSA said:
EDIT, movie idea:
Imagine a future where people have to "update" themselves with daily/weekly/monthly vaccine updates to patch against the latest strain of virulent code that can kill, manipulate, cripple or simply "change" you in millions of different ways.
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Couple that with it being a subscription-based system (as everything today seems to require a subscription or loyalty card).
 
RaptorSA said:
Mixing vibe-coding with the creation of artificial microscopic molecular machines and/or DNA instructions that appear from out of nowhere on a planet where no existing code for over 3 Billions years of evolution has ever encountered it... what could possibly go wrong? Look the bright side: The need to solve cancer disappears when the people disappear.

People in astronomy circles love to look and think bigger when they talk about the fermi paradox, the answer might be right underneath (or in) our noses.

EDIT, movie idea:
Imagine a future where people have to "update" themselves with daily/weekly/monthly vaccine updates to patch against the latest strain of virulent code that can kill, manipulate, cripple or simply "change" you in millions of different ways.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure they called in Covid19, and got pretty close to getting away with it.
 
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