AI proposed virus blueprints, but it has not made living viruses
Stanford bioengineering PhD candidate Samuel King used a generative AI model to propose genetic blueprints for microscopic viruses, giving researchers an early test of whether AI can help design new life forms. The work is not AI-generated life: the page calls it a preliminary step, then puts King’s research and what could come next in a subscriber-only conversation with MIT Technology Review’s James O’Donnell.