In 2023, former UN weapons inspector and scientist Rocco Casagrande arrived at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the West Wing of the White House, carrying a small, sealed container. Inside were a dozen test tubes containing ingredients that, if properly assembled, could cause a deadly pandemic.
According to Casagrande, an AI chatbot had not only provided him with the lethal recipe; it also offered ideas about how to pick the best weather conditions and targets for an attack. There to brief government officials on AI-enabled pandemic risks, Casagrande’s prop sent a powerful message to security officials about how rapidly AI had collapsed the barriers to engineering devastating bioweapons.
The barriers to engineering a pandemic have been lowered, and policymakers have taken note. America’s AI Action Plan (PDF) proposes defensive measures, and the UK’s 2025 Strategic Defence Review prioritizes chemical and biological defense. …
The remainder of this commentary is available at time.com.
