AI Bioweapons

Microsoft researchers selected 72 different proteins that are subject to legal controls, such as ricin, a bacterial toxin already used in several terrorist attacks. Using specialized AI protein design tools, they came up with more than 70,000 DNA sequences that would generate variant forms of these proteins. Computer models suggested that at least some of these alternatives would also be toxic. The researchers asked four suppliers of biosecurity screening systems used by DNA synthesis labs to run these sequences through their software. The tools failed to flag many of these sequences as problematic. Their performance varied widely. One tool flagged just 23% of the sequences.  Some DNA vendors, accounting for perhaps 20% of the market, don’t screen their orders at all.  -Science.org