Stanford researchers led by assistant professor Brian Hie used the Evo1 and Evo2 genome language models to design complete bacteriophage genomes, reported in the journal Science. Of 302 AI-generated designs synthesised in the lab, 16 produced functional viruses that replicated and killed E. coli. The phage genomes are about 5,400 base pairs, compared with roughly 500,000 for the smallest living cell genome. The team excluded viruses capable of infecting complex organisms from the training data and worked in a secure lab. In an accompanying commentary, Thomas Inglesby and Moritz Hanke of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said the work raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions and argued that new viruses with disease-causing potential should not be pursued.

• bbc.com2026-08-06