AI Designs Virus That Kills Deadly Bacteria From Scratch

Scientists have crossed a threshold many thought was years away: using artificial intelligence to write the complete genetic blueprint for a living organism from scratch.

Researchers at Stanford University created a virus called Evo-Φ2147 that successfully attacked E. coli bacteria in laboratory tests. Unlike previous genetic engineering that modified existing DNA, this virus was entirely designed by AI without copying nature's template.

The team watched as clear patches spread across petri dishes, proving their creation worked exactly as designed. The AI-made virus contained just 11 genes encoded in 5,386 base pairs of DNA, tiny compared to human DNA but fully functional.

British molecular biologist Adrian Woolfson called it "a massive, consequential moment" that shifts humanity from simply inheriting life to being able to author it. "For the last four billion years evolution has been blind. There has been no foresight, there has been no intentionality," he explained. "This is not speculation. It's not futuristic. It is happening."

The breakthrough gets even more exciting when paired with a new tool called Sidewinder, developed at the California Institute of Technology and published in Nature this week. This DNA construction technology can assemble genetic sequences with accuracy up to 100,000 times greater than previous methods while being faster and cheaper.

The Ripple Effect

The medical possibilities are staggering. Custom-designed viruses could target antibiotic-resistant bacteria that kill hundreds of thousands of people yearly. Scientists could potentially create biological solutions for diseases we currently can't treat, designing viruses that hunt down specific harmful bacteria while leaving helpful ones untouched.

Woolfson has already launched Genyro, a new company bringing together the world's top genetic designers, including Brian Hie, the Stanford scientist behind the AI breakthrough. Moderna co-founder Bob Langer, who helped develop COVID-19 vaccines, called the technology a "remarkable advance."

Caltech researcher Kaihang Wang captured the magnitude: "If you can control the source code of life, you can create anything and everything. The only thing limiting it is our imagination."

The Stanford experiment, published in September, serves as proof that complete genomes can now be designed rather than discovered, opening doors to medicines and treatments that don't exist in nature.

From fighting superbugs to creating new treatments, we're witnessing the dawn of an era where humanity can write the code of life itself.