Researchers find — and help fix — a hidden biosecurity threat news.microsoft.com/signal/ar…

Proteins are the engines and building blocks of biology — powering how organisms adapt, think and function. AI is helping scientists design new protein structures from amino acid sequences, opening doors to new therapies and cures.

But with that power also comes serious responsibility: Many of these tools are open source and could be susceptible to misuse.

To understand the risk, Microsoft scientists showed how open-source AI protein design (AIPD) tools could be harnessed to generate thousands of synthetic versions of a specific toxin — altering its amino acid sequence while preserving its structure and potentially its function. The experiment, done by computer simulation, revealed that most of these redesigned toxins might evade screening systems used by DNA synthesis companies.

That discovery exposed a blind spot in biosecurity and ultimately led to the creation of a collaborative, cross-sector effort dedicated to making DNA screening systems more resilient to AI advances. Over the course of 10 months, the team worked discreetly and rapidly to address the risk, formulating and applying new biosecurity “red-teaming” processes to develop a “patch” that was distributed globally to DNA synthesis companies. Their peer-reviewed paper, published in Science on Oct. 2, details their initial findings and subsequent actions that strengthened global biosecurity safeguards.