Australian scientist warns of risk of AI creating biological threats

MOSCOW, October 2 - RIA Novosti. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to analyze huge amounts of information and can be used to create viruses that can infect people, animals or plants; such a scenario has already become realistic, Australian scientist, specialist in the field of genomics and molecular biology Lottie Tajuri told RIA Novosti.

An associate professor at Bond University and Murdoch University, Tajouri sits on the Dubai Police Council of Scientists, an expert council that provides scientific advice and develops security solutions. He received special recognition for his speech at the world-famous TEDx conference.

“This scenario is more than plausible. AI allows everyone who has access to it to use huge amounts of information - from the simplest to the most complex,” Tajuri told RIA Novosti.

In August, scientists at Stanford University, using genomic artificial intelligence models Evo 1 and Evo 2, demonstrated the ability to design complete genomes of viable bacteriophages - viruses that infect bacteria. After synthesizing and laboratory testing of nearly 300 generated variants, the researchers obtained 16 viable phages capable of infecting E. coli.

“Although this AI-designed virus in that experiment was created to infect E. coli bacteria (Escherichia coli - ed.), nothing can prevent the creation of another set of viruses, capable of infecting people, animals or plants this time. The risk is enormous,” the scientist said.

Tajouri noted that AI is increasingly being used to automate laboratory processes, analyze biological information and accelerate scientific research. The same capabilities that help better understand diseases and develop new treatments can, under certain circumstances, lower barriers to creating biological threats, he said.

The expert also drew attention to the fact that some consequences of the use of biological technologies, unlike other technological errors, cannot simply be eliminated after they occur.

"A computer program can be deleted. A biological agent released into the environment cannot be brought back," he added.