Roundtables: A Conversation With the Creator of AI-Designed Viruses

Friday, October 16, 2026 Can AI design new life forms?

The short version

• In 2025, Stanford University PhD student Samuel King came up with a preliminary answer when he used a generative AI model to propose genetic blueprints for microscopic viruses.
• It isn’t yet an example of AI-generated life, but that could be next.
• Join senior AI reporter James O'Donnell as he interviews King about his work, being named one of MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 and new ways of seeing biology.

What happened

AI agents are not yet creative enough to carry out genuinely innovative open-ended AI research, it seems. Breathless claims about AGI and new capabilities fall apart pretty quickly under scrutiny.

Why it matters

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Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at MIT Technology Review — AI via the links above and below.