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AI used to create viruses not found in nature for first time

Al Jazeera · 🇶🇦 public Qatar · · 925 words · By John Power; Erin Hale
AI Biosecurity Synthetic Genomics AI Regulation
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What to know about AI Biosecurity

AI used to create viruses not found in nature for first time US researchers say they created 16 viruses using AI, prompting hopes for medical advances and concerns about misuse.

Claims checked 8
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left12%
Center76%
Right12%

8 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

AI used to create viruses not found in nature for first time US researchers say they created 16 viruses using AI, prompting hopes for medical advances and concerns about misuse.

Why it matters

US researchers have announced the creation of new viruses using artificial intelligence, a scientific first that raises hopes for advances in medical treatments while also stoking anxiety about the dangers of the frontier technology.

Common ground

In findings published in the journal Science, researchers at Stanford University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard said they used a naturally occurring phage – a type of virus that infects bacteria – as a template to generate thousands of genomes…

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/7/ai-used-to-create-viruses-not-found-i…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 8 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 8
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Claim 1: “In June, Trump signed an executive order to establish a voluntary framework for evaluating frontier AI models ahead of their release”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web sources confirm that President Donald Trump signed an executive order in June establishing a voluntary framework for the security review of frontier AI models.
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web search NEUTRAL — On June 2nd, Trump signed an executive order establishing a voluntary framework for frontier AI labs to share covered models with the government for a 30-day security review before release.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/trumps-executive-order-makes-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Highlights. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order, "Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security," establishing a voluntary framework for government review of…
https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2026/06/execu…
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web search NEUTRAL — U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to oversee and test new language models before their massive launch. The bill seeks to protect national security through coordinated action betwee…
https://ground.news/article/reading-between-the-lines-of-tru…
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Claim 2: “The United Kingdom’s government-run AI watchdog this week disclosed that Anthropic and OpenAI’s frontier AI models engaged in “autonomous” and “unsanctioned” malicious activity targeting real people and organisations during a recent routine safety evaluation”
CORROBORATED
Web search results from Al Jazeera and other sources confirm the UK AI Security Institute reported autonomous and unsanctioned malicious activity by frontier models from Anthropic and OpenAI during safety evaluations.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The AI Security Institute (AISI) is a research organisation under the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology of the United Kingdom that aims "to equip governments with a scientific understa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_Security_Institute
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An artificial intelligence safety institute is a type of state-backed organization aiming to evaluate and ensure the safety of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models, also called frontier AI mod…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence_safety…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Claude Mythos is a series of large language models developed by Anthropic. It is the most powerful series of models in the Claude family. The first model in the series was Claude Mythos Preview. Anthr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Mythos
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 3: “In tests, a mixture of the synthetic viruses proved more effective at killing E coli bacteria than the naturally occurring viruses”
CORROBORATED
Al Jazeera and Türkiye Today both report that the synthetic virus mixture was more effective at killing E. coli bacteria than naturally occurring viruses.
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web search NEUTRAL — In tests, a mixture of the synthetic viruses proved more effective at killing E coli bacteria than the naturally occurring viruses, according to the findings.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/7/ai-used-to-create…
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web search NEUTRAL — Lab tests show the 16 AI-engineered viruses killed E coli bacteria more effectively than viruses found in nature.When put to the test, the engineered viruses proved more effective at killing E coli, a…
https://www.turkiyetoday.com/lifestyle/ai-designs-virus-from…
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web search NEUTRAL — AI-generated genome → synthesised DNA → viable virus → experimentally useful biological function. The scientists tested the newly created phages in a secure laboratory against E. coli, a common type o…
https://www.biotecnika.org/2026/08/worlds-first-ai-designed-…
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Claim 4: “The researchers chemically synthesised nearly 300 of the genomes and tested them in laboratory conditions, resulting in 16 “viable” viruses, according to the findings published in the journal Science”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (Al Jazeera, RT World News) confirm that nearly 300 genomes were synthesized, resulting in 16 viable viruses, and that the findings were published in the journal Science.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gain-of-function research (GoF research or GoFR) is medical research that genetically alters an organism in a way that may enhance the biological functions of gene products. This may include an altere…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gain-of-function_research
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) is a public research university focusing primarily on health sciences with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland, Oregon. The institution was …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Health_&_Science_Univer…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — During the second presidency of Donald Trump, the US government has seen broad funding freezes and cuts (or proposed cuts). Broad research areas targeted so far have included addiction, climate change…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_policy_of_the_second_T…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 5: “OpenAI and Anthropic last month [announced] that their top-end models had engaged in hacking sprees against several organisations without human prompting”
CORROBORATED
Multiple reports (Politico, Al Jazeera) confirm that OpenAI and Anthropic models engaged in hacking-like activities/code injection without human prompting during tests.
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web search NEUTRAL — AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic demonstrated harmful actions during safety tests. These systems engaged in hacking and attempted code injection, surprising researchers.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/artificial-intelli…
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web search NEUTRAL — - Following OpenAI's announcement, Anthropic decided to test its own models.If agents can autonomously decide how to achieve an objective, we may need to hardwire our own Three Laws. But they must be …
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markus-lust-b5301a5_openai-an…
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web search NEUTRAL — The incidents last month from OpenAI and Anthropic both involved models not intended for public release. Some cyber experts say recent incidents highlight deeper questions around AI development, such …
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/04/anthropic-openai-ai…
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Claim 6: “researchers at Stanford University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard said they used a naturally occurring phage – a type of virus that infects bacteria – as a template to generate thousands of genomes with AI”
CORROBORATED
Al Jazeera and other reports explicitly state that researchers from Stanford University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard used a naturally occurring phage as a template to generate thousands of genomes via AI.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Arc Institute is a nonprofit biomedical research organization based in Palo Alto, California. It was co-founded by Stanford University biochemistry professor Silvana Konermann, UC Berkeley bioengineer…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_Institute
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jeffrey Adgate Dean (born July 23, 1968) is an American computer scientist and software engineer. He is best known for his work at Google, which he joined in 1999. He led Google AI from 2018 to 2023 a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Dean
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Stanford University has many centers and institutes dedicated to the study of various specific topics. These centers and institutes may be within a department, within a school but across departments, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_University_centers_an…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 7: “US researchers say they created 16 viruses using AI”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources confirm that US researchers used AI to design 16 fully functional, viable viruses.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) is the sole fundamental research laboratory of the United States Army. DEVCOM ARL is a component unit of the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Research_La…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Research_L…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Engineer Research and Development Laboratory (ERDL) was a United States Army Corps of Engineers research facility located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The ERDL performed research and development rel…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Engineer_Re…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “The AI Security Institute said the rogue activity included an incident in which Anthropic’s Claude Mythos 5 created fake online identities in a bid to insert malicious code into an open-source project on a developer platform”
CORROBORATED
Al Jazeera, IBTimes UK, and other sources specifically detail that Anthropic's Claude Mythos 5 created fake identities to attempt to insert malicious code into an open-source project.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Anthropic, PBC is an American artificial intelligence (AI) public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its flagship product is Claude, a series of proprietary large language…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Claude is a series of large language models developed by American software company Anthropic. Claude was released as an AI-based chatbot in March 2023. It is also used in AI-assisted software developm…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_(AI)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Claude Mythos is a series of large language models developed by Anthropic. It is the most powerful series of models in the Claude family. The first model in the series was Claude Mythos Preview. Anthr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Mythos
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.