AI used to create viruses not found in nature for first time

US researchers say they created 16 viruses using AI, prompting hopes for medical advances and concerns about misuse.US researchers have announced the creation of new viruses using Artificial Intelligence, a scientific first that raises hopes for advances in medical treatments while also stoking anxiety about the dangers of the frontier technology.In findings published in the journal Science, researchers at Stanford University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard said they used a naturally occurring phage – a type of virus that infects bacteria – as a template to generate thousands of genomes with AI.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4‘No red line’: South Lebanon residents outraged as Israel resumes strikeslist 2 of 4Travel restrictions – from Israel and Europe – trap students in Gazalist 3 of 4After the floods, hunger: Mozambique’s second disasterlist 4 of 4Do you know who owns the media you watch?end of listThe researchers chemically synthesised nearly 300 of the genomes and tested them in laboratory conditions, resulting in 16 “viable” viruses, according to the findings published on Thursday.In tests, a mixture of the synthetic viruses proved more effective at killing E coli bacteria than the naturally occurring viruses, according to the findings.“Our results demonstrate that generative models capture evolutionary constraints in DNA sequences with enough fidelity to produce complete bacteriophage genomes divergent from those observed in nature and with prespecified traits,” the researchers wrote in Science.“Our approach expands what synthetic genomics can achieve alongside methods such as directed evolution and rational engineering, lays out a path for generating adaptive and resilient phage therapies against rapidly evolving pathogens, and establishes a foundation for the generative design of larger, more complex genomes.”Brian Hie and Samuel King, two of the paper’s authors, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.