Yesterday, leaders across AI, biotech, and national security signed on to an open letter calling for laws requiring companies selling synthetic DNA/RNA to screening customers and orders to prevent misuse.
Much has been said about AI as an enabling technology for guerilla bioterrorism (or biological warfare by state actors, for that matter). I definitely believe the magnitude of this threat is underrated by the general public.
But this is Silicon Valley we’re talking about, where the grey-market purchasing of sketchy “Chinese peptides” is rampant and normalized. They know better than anyone that these laws will be, at best, a speedbump to a motivated domestic terrorist, even if they might help curb casual misuse. And this is to say nothing of actors outside the reach of American regulators.