Key facts
- Experts worry AI could simplify the design and modification of toxins and dangerous pathogens.
- The same AI tools used for drug discovery could be exploited for harmful purposes.
Experts are concerned that artificial intelligence could make it easier to design and modify toxins and dangerous pathogens. The same tools that help scientists accelerate life-saving drugs could potentially be used in nefarious ways, raising fears of human extinction. Sky's science and technology editor Tom Clarke is examining whether an AI-designed pathogen could pose such a threat and how to control the exploitation of AI.