Bioethics Breakfast Club

Join us on Wednesday, February 18, at 9 a.m. in LSC 202 for the Bioethics Breakfast Club featuring: 
Synthetic Biology and Artificial Intelligence
With Bert Jacobs, SOLS, Emma Frow, Bioengineering & SFIS, and Christopher Plaisier, Bioengineering.

Synthetic biology is increasingly intersecting with artificial intelligence in powerful ways. AI is now being used to design new proteins, metabolic pathways, and even entire genetic codes faster than human researchers could manage. This fusion accelerates the creation of novel organisms for medicine, agriculture, and environmental applications, but also amplifies risks. AI could design pathogens with unprecedented capabilities or create organisms whose ecological impact is unpredictable. So, we might ask, How does AI change the pace and scope of synthetic biology innovation? What safeguards should exist to prevent malicious or unsafe AI-designed organisms? Who is accountable if an AI-designed organism causes harm: the programmer, the biologist, or the AI system’s creator?