Read our Privacy noticeResearchers have used artificial intelligence to identify and create functioning viruses not seen in nature for the first time. “The ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists; the governance to safely steer it does not.” They then homed in on the virus ΦX174, a well-studied bacteriophage that infects only E. coli, training the AI on its genome and those of similar viruses. Concerns abound that powerful and easily accessible AI models could create runaway threats, ranging from pathogens to cyberattacks. Last month, ChatGPT maker OpenAI announced that its experimental systems broke out of its safeguards and hacked a fellow AI company.