“This is the first time AI systems are able to write coherent genome-scale sequences,” senior author Brian Hie, a Stanford computational biologist, told Nature. Since their genomes are pretty simple, they’re easier to tinker with and less ambitious for a human or machine to recreate. In the study, the researchers used an AI model called Evo to dream up the virus genomes. After probing the AI model, the team came up with 302 virus designs. If an AI model can come up with functioning phages, it could also be potentially abused to create bioweapons, experts warned, or even unintentionally create an out-of-control virus.