GoKawiilThe questions they tried to answer include: am I going to die? Why should AI kill us, if at all? Is AI really dangerous, or is it just tech companies drumming up PR? And what steps can be taken to make sure AI is controlled, monitored and regulated effectively?
Here are their responses.
—Will Douglas Heaven and Grace Huckins
The specter of AI-enabled bioweapons is a wake-up call for biotech
One of the ways AI could potentially cause catastrophic harm is by aiding the design and creation of bioweapons. In 2022, researchers found that it was remarkably easy to do this with an AI “molecule generator” built to develop drugs. In less than six hours, the model generated 40,000 molecules that could serve as chemical warfare agents.
Today, AI tools can answer questions on almost every area of science, while advances in gene editing and synthetic biology have made biotech tools more accessible. There are safeguards, but none are ironclad. However, scientists disagree about how serious the risk is anyway.
Find out why it’s easier than ever to design killer pathogens.
—Jessica Hamzelou
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