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Tag 3
Let's build dodos! How generative AI is upturning the world of synthetic biology and hopelessly overwhelming traditional governance instruments.
Have you always wanted to build an egg-laying woolly milk sow or bring the legendary dodo
back to life? The dream of some biologists to not only understand organisms, but also to redesign, build or bring living beings back to life is accelerating towards reality with the convergence of synthetic biology and generative AI in ‘generative biology’. For example, large language models are now being used to write genes and proteins, while complex laboratory tests are being replaced by machine vision and automation.
The pace of these developments is so fast that they are barely noticed by the public, politicians or related experts such as environmental scientists. Questions about the reliability and safety of these new biodigital methods and applications are not yet being asked and research into risk assessment methods is not keeping pace. At the same time, this shift of generative AI systems from generating text and images to generating protein, bacteria, viruses and organisms could transform many areas of life, from medicine and the environment to bioweapons. So let's talk about it and discuss it.
This is what the talk will be about:
- What is the science behind synthetic biology? What is genome editing, CRISPR/cas, RNAi or off-target effects etc.?
- And how does generative AI and generative biology come into play? What is actually happening in laboratories and corporate R&D around the world, including in the USA and China? I will report on AI platforms that generate designs for novel viruses and proteins to experiments ranging from medical drug development and attempts to bring extinct species back to life. I will also present current scenarios in the field of bioweapons.
- How big tech is moving to get into bioeconomy – Titans such as Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alibaba, Meta, Amazon and Salesforce, with no specific experience in life sciences, are now the leaders in a new ‘generative biology’ run.
- I will then continue with our own research on risk and technology assessment of genetically modified organisms and synthetic biology. This includes experiments and method development on biosafety, but also poses more fundamental questions such as investigating if the AI/biodigital design of nature is in line with nature conservation concepts or asking if democratization of biotech research (garage biology) relates to “dual use” risks. We also work on instruments to better understand impacts on society and improved social participation.
- Finally, I would like to report on the very controversy negotiations on this topic at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Colombia in November – among parties, with perspectives from developing countries, indigenous peoples and local communities, scientist and others and discuss ways forward for fair, multidisciplinary assessment and oversight that is urgently needed.