70 AI leaders, one shared fear

Vaccines are named after cows.

In 1796, Dr. Edward Jenner noticed that the milkmaids who caught cowpox never got smallpox. So he gave his theory a shot (literally) and it worked!

Jenner named the technique “vaccine” from vacca, the Latin word for cow.

What’s in store:

OpenAI and Anthropic urge Congress to prevent AI bioweapons.
Britain’s latest breakthrough could change modern medicine.
Mindstream Picks: Prada just helped design the layer astronauts will wear on the Moon.

Read Time: 5 minutes

AI REGULATIONS

The common cause that united AI rivals

OpenAI and Anthropic have finally come together. And all it took was a little bioterrorism fear.

Last week, Sam Altman and Dario Amodei joined more than 70 leaders in signing an open letter to Congress. The group called for mandatory screening and recordkeeping of synthetic nucleic acids.

Or in layman’s terms, they want the government to track any genetic material that could be used for biological weapons.

Think of it like a pharmacy. Prescriptions are logged, patients are verified, and orders are connected back to the prescribing doctor. All before the medication changes hands. There are multiple points of oversight and a solid paper trail.

Synthetic DNA and RNA purchases would work in a similar way. This would allow regulators to spot patterns and flag suspicious orders before it's too late.

Let’s break it down:

The problem: Advanced AI is outpacing the current safeguards used to flag potential threats.
The fear: Just one dangerous, lab-made virus could jumpstart the next pandemic.
The ask: Mandatory tracking of all DNA and RNA orders, to screen for malicious activity.

The wakeup call

Synthetic DNA is genetic material that’s created in a lab, not derived from a living organism. It has plenty of legit purposes, like research and drug development. But as with many powerful tools, there’s a potential dark side.

That risk came to light in 2017. Canadian researchers spent $100,000 on mail-order DNA, then used it to rebuild the extinct horsepox virus (aka: smallpox’s less lethal cousin.)

And if it could happen with horsepox, it could happen with something much scarier. *Gulp*

AI isn’t slowing down, so its builders are asking for guardrails. Not only would these precautions protect the public, as the letter to Congress states: “awareness of traceability itself deters misuse.”

After all, the internet has taught us that trolls love anonymity. Ask people to sign their name and they suddenly behave better.

Idk about you, but I’ve had enough global pandemics for one lifetime. - TL

Who is most responsible for preventing AI misuse?

The government. We need standardized safeguards.

AI companies. They have to consider threats when scaling.

Vote for live results and see results + opinions from yesterday at the bottom of the email.

Riddle Me This

A man dressed entirely in black, black shoes, trousers, jumper, gloves, and balaclava, walks down a black street with all the streetlamps off. A black car driving towards him with its headlights off stops just in time. How did the driver see him?

Find the answer at the bottom of the email!

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MEDICINE

One vaccine to rule them all

Your annual flu shot may soon be obsolete.

Currently, vaccines are developed using an active strain of a virus. But since some sneaky pathogens are constantly mutating, medicine has always been a step behind.

That is, until AI pulled an Uno Reverse on the whole operation!

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a “fundamentally new” type of vaccine that could drastically change preventative medicine. Rather than working strain-by-strain, an AI-designed “super antigen” fights a whole family of viruses.

So scientists can stop chasing a moving target.

The breakthrough:

Cambridge researchers used AI to analyze a range of coronavirus strains.
They developed one antigen to target the whole Covid family, including variants not yet seen in humans.
Early trials determined safety. Now a second study will measure immune system efficacy.

The same strategy is already being applied to the flu, bird flu, and Ebola.

Elsewhere, in Britain

Not to be outdone, Oxford is also making medical moves. The university just received funding and access to one of the UK’s most powerful supercomputers, in their effort to advance AI-designed cancer vaccines.

So as Cambridge combats contagions, Oxford tailors cancer treatments.

And lab by lab, AI is reimagining modern medicine.

Yes, yes, yes! More of this please. - TL

Mindstream Picks

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