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DTN 181: The specter of AI-enabled bioweapons

Plus: Astroforge puts AI in charge of its next spacecraft, Vast announces new lunar programs division, Outpost launches in-space manufacturing service, Joby achieves a 3,100 mile autonomous flight, DoE launches quantum computer race, and more.

25 Sep 2026 — 6 min read

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The specter of AI-enabled bioweapons is a wake-up call for biotech

“A bioweapon might be a highly lethal virus that targets people according to their genes. It could be a fungus that wipes out a crop and causes food insecurity. Perhaps it would be a tasteless, odorless toxin that could be slipped into a region’s water supply, undetected.

The concern is that AI tools can be used to help generate agents like these. In 2022, researchers at Collaborations Pharmaceuticals found that it was remarkably easy to do so using an AI “molecule generator” they’d developed to find potential drugs for human disease. In less than six hours, the model generated 40,000 molecules with the potential to serve as chemical warfare agents. Some of them were designed to be even more toxic than known nerve agents. “Without being overly alarmist, this should serve as a wake-up call for our colleagues in the ‘AI in drug discovery’ community,” the authors wrote at the time.

In a report published last week, Anthropic acknowledged that people had attempted to use its models to explore ways to make the chikungunya virus more transmissible, create a form of bird flu that is more dangerous to humans, and build an “atlas of venom toxin peptides,” among other things.” (via MIT Technology Review)

Vogue World closed its Milan edition this week with a troupe of robots. Image: Vogue

“Vogue World is the magazine’s annual traveling spectacle, now in its fifth year: part runway show, part celebrity showcase, part variety hour, part ad-sales opportunity, staged in a different city each time. It has run through New York, London, Paris, and Hollywood. This year’s Milan edition was marketed as a tribute to Italian craftsmanship and “the human touch” in an age of technology, which makes what happened next a little strange.

During the act titled The Age of Intelligence, humanoid robots made by the Chinese firm Unitree walked into the Galleria to Gigi D’Agostino’s “L’Amour Toujours.” They waved their arms in the air, imploring onlookers to clap. One did a lasso. They were not wearing clothes.” (via TechCrunch)