Scientists used AI to design viruses for the first time, creating bacteriophages capable of hunting down and killing harmful bacteria.
In the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, the researchers describe how they used AI models designed to analyze and generate DNA, RNA, and protein sequences to generate viral genomes with the ability to infect and kill specific strains of Escherichia coli, including some resistant to antibiotics.
Of 302 AI-designed bacteriophages, 16 could infect the bacteria, according to the paper.
The results suggest AI could help design new therapies for treating bacterial infections, but they also offer another tantalizing possibility, one of the researchers told Nature: “The next step is AI-generated life.”