Artificial Intelligence used to design brand new viruses

"This is a next step in the complexity that's designable by generative AI, this is the first time generative AI has been used to design a complete genome, it's something that can replicate and have other functions inside cells… this was new territory for us," Brian Hie, assistant professor at Stanford University, told the BBC.

Phage therapy is seen as a potential solution to the rising tide of bacterial infections that cannot be treated with antibiotics But the breakthrough also points to the ability of AI to design new biology that goes beyond the natural world – what is known as synthetic biology.

AI tools are rapidly advancing and have already been used to design new antibiotics.