Artificial Intelligence used to design brand new viruses

For example, they said new viruses with the potential to cause disease "should not be pursued".The researchers themselves took steps to maximise safety. They excluded viruses that could infect complex organisms from the training database, performed the research on phage rather than viruses that infect people and it all took place in a secure laboratory.Hie argues even existing safeguards go a long way towards "ensuring that the technology is used for good".From computers bits to atomsViruses are not alive and it would take another significant leap for AI to generate living organisms.The genetic code of the phage is around 5,400 base pairs (letters) long. The smallest genome of a living cell is around 500,000 base pairs. The human genome is three billion base pairs.Hie says "it would probably be a lot of work, but not impossible" to attempt some simple organisms and they were "definitely interested in working towards" that.Prof Marc Güell, from the synthetic biology lab at Pompeu Fabra University in Spain, said the study was a "very significant turning point" because for the "first time in history, we are beginning to design biology on a computer".