AI has created real viruses: they replicate and kill bacteria

A group of researchers from Stanford University and the Arc Institute in Palo Alto have printed viruses designed entirely by AI . The viruses were chemically assembled, tested on real strains of E. coli, and demonstrated they could do what they were designed to do: infect, replicate, and destroy host cells.

AI-Designed Viruses Really Work

At the heart of the study is Evo , an AI model trained on millions of bacteriophage genomes, viruses that infect bacteria. Unlike general-purpose language models, Evo was designed to "write" DNA. As a starting point, the researchers chose phiX174, a virus known for being the first DNA genome ever sequenced. With only 5,400 base pairs and 11 genes, it is the ideal candidate for testing AI's ability to generate functional variants.

After developing 302 designs, the team decided to print them and test them on real bacteria. Sixteen of these viruses successfully infected E. coli strains, replicating and destroying the cells. Some proved even more infectious than natural phiX174, despite having genetic modifications that a human would never have considered introducing.

An interesting discovery, but unknowns remain

The possibility of creating viruses with AI opens up fascinating therapeutic possibilities, but also enormous risks. According to Craig Venter, a pioneer of synthetic biology, if someone did it with smallpox or anthrax, I would be very concerned . The ability to generate entirely new genomes, some so different as to be considered species unto themselves, raises ethical and safety questions that cannot be ignored.

Technically, viruses aren't even alive. They're like molecular parasites that infiltrate cells and use them to multiply. But Stanford's Brian Hie goes further: The next step will be to create life with artificial intelligence . No longer just chatbots and self-driving cars, but organisms entirely invented by an algorithm... In short, after having learned to imitate life, AI now aims to create it from scratch.