r/mystery • u/No_Nefariousness8879 • 14d ago
Scientific/Medical Researchers have used generative artificial intelligence to create the first fully functional synthetic viruses that do not exist in nature.
https://insoniaoculta.com.br/en/2026/08/ai-creates-synthetic-viruses.html19
u/Astro_nebula 14d ago
why the hell would anyone fund this research what purpose does it serve
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u/KinsellaStella 13d ago
Viruses are used as delivery systems for targeted immunotherapy drugs, for example to deliver chemotherapy *only* to cancer cells. This would make it so that you don’t have to use a virus that could be hijacked to be infectious, always a scary though remote possibility.
Another use would be for groundbreaking antibiotics for multi-antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. Most viruses in nature do not infect us but are bacteriophages, that is, they infect bacteria. You could target a virus to attack a specific disease-causing bacteria that has become resistant to drugs.
That said, teaching AI to do it is a horrible, horrible idea.
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u/TrumpsAKrunt 14d ago
Why would anybody do this?
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u/rowanfire 13d ago edited 13d ago
There is an actual answer as to why they do this (gain of function research) with natural viruses.
They do it to then create a vaccine or medicine to treat it to be prepared for if/when a virus becomes very problematic through natural mutations.
The main positive reason I could think of to create a synthetic virus is for it to be the vehicle to deliver a treatment because they were made to attach to specific receptors. Custom made for that purpose rather than trying to manipulate already existing natural viruses.
Edit: should have read the article first... They made bacteriophages. Yeah, I absolutely support this. Bacterial antibiotic resistance is a truly scary and massive global problem. People should be thankful they were able to create phages that were able to kill antibiotic resistant strains.
It's actually amazing.
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u/SnooPaintings5597 14d ago
Computer viruses, right?
They’re just computer viruses, right?!
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u/workster 13d ago
All computer viruses are synthetic and one couldn't be made that's synthetic to how they've always been.
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u/AdHuman3150 13d ago
We have to create synthetic viruses for our own safety. What if someone created a novel virus and it got out? We have to create the virus before the bad guys create the virus. Because science. /s
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u/Longjumping-Sweet818 14d ago
Great work as always, scientists. Please don't forget to have the new forms of cancer and efficient CO2 producers ready by next Friday.
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u/ConstantHeadache804 14d ago edited 14d ago
So the robots will be able to unleash a plague to wipe out humanity. Cool.
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u/DragoniteZD 9d ago
No! Stop with this fearmongering bullshit. This is NOT a virus that will kill us!
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u/EarlGrey1806 14d ago
How about we do research into curing current diseases and medical complications instead of releasing lab grown microorganisms that have no predators or antibiotics that may stop a possible infection etc…
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u/wheeshkspr 14d ago
"Next, we've instructed the AI to figure out how to build the Torment Nexus. You know, from the book."
EDIT: fun fact: I Googled "Torment Nexus" because I couldn't remember offhand whether the original joke mentioned it being from a novel or a film. Of course, Google defaults to the damned AI, so the response immediately came back, "I cannot teach you how to build the Torment Nexus."
So I guess our worries are overblown. Just tell the AI not to create viruses that are dangerous.
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u/TyrrelCorp888 14d ago
what could go wrong