AdvertisementWorldNorth AmericaAI AI used to create new viruses in the lab Carl Zimmer August 7, 2026 — 9:04am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. As the AI would be able to handle only small genomes at first, the scientists decided to try to make viruses. And because it’s a bacteriophage that infects only E. coli, they knew that viruses similar to it would be safe. But along with this hope, Evo’s initial success has raised concerns that AI could be used to create deadly viruses. They did not provide the model with data about viruses that infect humans, and they excluded similar viruses that infect other animals, plants and fungi.