Major AI CEOs Call for Biosecurity Laws to Prevent AI-Designed Bioweapons

Summary

The CEOs of leading AI companies—including OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis, and Microsoft's Mustafa Suleyman—have signed a public letter urging Congress to adopt laws requiring synthetic DNA and RNA providers to screen customers and orders. The signatories warn that advances in large language models have made it feasible for malicious actors to use AI to quickly design dangerous pathogens and locate unvetted gene synthesis suppliers, significantly lowering historic barriers to bioweapons development.

The gene synthesis industry currently relies on voluntary screening practices coordinated through the International Gene Synthesis Consortium, but these safeguards remain inconsistent and vulnerable. Recent research has shown that AI tools can generate gene sequences capable of evading existing screening mechanisms. The letter, organized by the nonpartisan Institute for Progress and the Foundation for American Innovation, proposes that all U.S. gene synthesis companies implement mandatory customer and order screening.

A bipartisan Senate bill introduced earlier this year would establish such requirements, building on existing federal guidelines that currently apply only to federally-funded research. Gene synthesis technology has become increasingly accessible and affordable—the cost of synthesizing DNA has dropped dramatically since researchers successfully reconstructed the extinct horsepox virus for roughly $100,000 in 2017. Combined with AI capabilities, this accessibility poses a significant biosecurity risk that demands regulatory intervention.

• A bipartisan Senate bill is already under consideration that would require all U.S. gene synthesis providers to implement mandatory customer and order screening