Stanford scientists just crossed a wild milestone: they used AI to design viruses from scratch that can kill bacteria.
This is not theoretical code, but actual working viruses that replicate and destroy bacterial cells. And before you ask, no, they did not “vibe code” the viruses.
Here’s what they did
The team created 302 virus designs using AI, and 16 of them successfully infected E. coli bacteria in the lab. One night, researchers saw plaques of dead bacteria in their petri dishes.
Here’s how they did it
The researchers trained an AI model called Evo on the genomes of about 2 million bacteriophages (viruses that specifically attack bacteria).
Think of it like training ChatGPT, but instead of feeding it blog posts, they fed it genetic code. The AI learned the patterns of viral DNA and proposed completely new genetic sequences.
The team then chemically printed 302 of these AI-proposed genomes as actual DNA strands and mixed them with bacteria.
When 16 of those designs worked (replicating, bursting through bacteria, and killing them), they knew they’d achieved something extraordinary.
Why this matters right now
The WHO just reported that 1 in 6 bacterial infections worldwide are now resistant to antibiotics.
Over 40% of common antibiotics showed increased resistance between 2018 and 2023.
In some regions, more than 70% of E. coli infections resist first-choice treatments.
Not only that, but traditional antibiotic development takes years and costs billions. Bacteria evolve resistance faster than we can develop new drugs. But AI can design and test hundreds of viral treatments in the time it used to take to test one.
The practical applications are already here. Doctors sometimes use “phage therapy“ to treat serious bacterial infections when antibiotics fail. AI-designed viruses could make these treatments more effective and faster to develop.
The bigger picture
AI robotic labs are now being built specifically to accelerate this kind of research. Liverpool just opened a £20 million facility with state-of-the-art robotics to safely develop treatments for deadly infectious diseases.
Safety concerns remain, of course. The Stanford team deliberately avoided teaching their AI about human viruses. But the technology exists, and as one scientist put it: “If someone did this with smallpox or anthrax, I would have grave concerns.“
For now, this breakthrough offers hope against a growing crisis. Antibiotic resistance kills millions annually and threatens to reverse decades of medical progress by making common infections untreatable, so AI might have just given us a powerful new weapon in that fight.
Editor’s note: This content originally ran in today’s newsletter send from our sister publication, The Neuron. To read more from The Neuron, sign up for its newsletter here.
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