In the U.S., 16 viable bacteriophages were created using AI
Researchers from Stanford University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard reported that they had used artificial intelligence to create 16 viable viruses that do not exist in nature. The findings were published in the journal *Science*, according to Al Jazeera English.
The scientists used a natural bacteriophage—a virus that infects bacteria—as a starting point and used AI to generate thousands of variants of its genomes. Nearly 300 of these were chemically synthesized and tested in the laboratory. As a result, 16 synthetic viruses proved to be viable.
During testing, a mixture of the engineered viruses was more effective at killing E. coli bacteria than natural viruses. The study’s authors noted that this approach could expand the possibilities of synthetic genomics and pave the way for the development of phage therapies against rapidly evolving pathogens.
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Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto, noted that AI-designed bacteriophages could potentially become a new tool against antibiotic-resistant infections. At the same time, he emphasized that the ability to create fully functional viruses could pose a biosafety risk if applied to harmful pathogens.
Fatemeh Vafai, a professor at the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at UNSW in Sydney, noted that this specific study poses no direct danger to humans, as bacteriophages infect only bacteria. However, she said that the methods themselves could potentially be used for harmful purposes, so biosafety controls and oversight must evolve alongside the technology.
Tom Ellis, an expert in synthetic genome engineering at Imperial College London, cautioned against overemphasizing the significance of the findings. He explained that the genome of the phage used is relatively small, and such viruses are highly prone to mutation, whereas creating significantly more complex viral genomes using AI remains a much more difficult task.
