AI and biotech leaders, including Sam Altman and Demis Hassabis, urge Congress to mandate DNA synthesis screening
The proposed laws would require customer identity verification.
Many users congratulated AI and biotech leaders for urging mandatory DNA synthesis screening laws to block bioweapons, while others objected to the proposal as cartel-like gatekeeping that adds harmful red tape.
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WSJ coverage:
Today:
1. AI CEOs call for mandatory DNA synthesis screening in a letter led by @IFP and @JoinFAI - http://screendna.org
2. @JanikaSchmitt and @jtmonrad published the grand strategy for actually securing the DNA supply chain -- the main barrier to bioweapons -- with a prioritized list of concrete interventions - http://ifp.org/how-to-secure-the-dna-supply-chain
Not only does the piece specify what to do to solve the problem, but it also includes a funding opportunity focused on it: https://form.typeform.com/to/lqql7lsP
I can't imagine a higher calling than protecting humanity from biological weapons. If you feel similarly, check out their Launch Sequence piece above.
It’s great to see AI leaders like Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Demis Hassabis calling for mandatory DNA synthesis screening, which is a no-brainer policy for preventing (AI-enabled) bioterrorism.
But fewer than 50 people in the world currently work on DNA security full-time.
We need a comprehensive plan and at least 5x as many people to secure the DNA supply chain before AI and biotech outpace us.
@jtmonrad and I spent the past two years developing a field strategy for how to do it.
Successfully defending against this risk (while still capturing innovation benefits) requires four things:
1. Coverage: More than 80% of synthetic DNA providers screen both orders and customers
2. Strategic ambiguity: a bad actor can’t easily tell which providers will screen their order
3. Access: legitimate customers can still order DNA cheaply and easily
4. Effectiveness: 90% of providers reliably catch dangerous sequences when red-teamed
We’re already seeing real momentum. Many DNA providers screen voluntarily, and governments in several countries are moving toward mandates. But that doesn’t mean the problem will be solved in time by default.
Our guide lays out exactly which projects we need to launch. We’re looking for founders, operators, and technical experts to own pieces of the solution. We’re also hiring a Senior Program Officer at Sentinel to drive this work. Get in touch if you or someone you know would be a strong fit! (links for EOI form and JD below)
Read our full field strategy in @IFP's Launch Sequence: https://ifp.org/how-to-secure-the-dna-supply-chain/
Nucleic acid synthesis screening (including record keeping) is good. But a lot of the recommendations I'm seeing feels like it is lacking contact with reality or written by people who keep their hands too clean.
I am not sure how many people writing on the topic of ordering synthetic DNA online have also... ordered synthetic DNA online with an LLM. I have.
I have weird hobbies and one of my side projects needed synthetic DNA. It is not thaat easy to get, but it also wasn't that hard.
The approval process is pretty robust. I was rejected as a person so I needed to be a company. And the easiest way to be a fake company, is to just make a real one.
So I made an LLC, website, EIN, Linkedin, commercial address, signed some forms, and sent a lot of emails. The LLMS were pretty helpful in me getting through all the screening steps. They were also pretty helpful in designing and ordering the material. They helped me search every paper on the topic to find the best dna sequence for my needs. And now I keep a thousand dollars of synthetic viral dna material in my freezer next to the ice cream.
It seems the key part of the request prob isn't the screening, but it's the record keeping. That seems good. I was pretty heavily screened to get approved. However now that I have been approved, it feels like I have moved outside the Eye of KYC Sauron and now could order ...anything.
This is a good first step but I remain worried about papering over the problem, making doing science outside an institution harder, and not really solving the crux of the issue (we are being reckless with ai)
No one should be able to order a bioweapon through the mail.
@IFP & @JoinFAI are proud to co-lead an open letter calling for mandatory DNA synthesis screening & recordkeeping.
Signatories include:
- Sam Altman, CEO & Co-Founder, OpenAI
- Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder, Anthropic
- David Baker, Director, Institute for Protein Design; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Patrick Collison, CEO & Co-Founder, Stripe
- Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
- Demis Hassabis, CEO, Google DeepMind; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Emily Leproust, CEO & Co-Founder, Twist Bioscience
- Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School
- Gerald W. Parker, former Special Assistant to the President for Biosecurity and Pandemic Response
- Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI
- Alex Tabarrok, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
- Alexandr Wang, Chief AI Officer, Meta; Founder, Scale AI
- Christine E. Wormuth, President & CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative; 25th Secretary of the Army
Read the letter and see the full list of signatories: http://screendna.org
Many DNA synthesis companies voluntarily screen orders to mitigate biosecurity risks, but no law requires them to do so.
Leaders in AI, biotech, life sciences, national security, and the nucleic acid synthesis industry agree that Congress should act to strengthen safeguards against biological threats.
@deanwball put it well in the WSJ:
“If you’re synthesizing the stuff that yields biological life and viruses, we’re asking you to screen to see whether it is dangerous in some way. That seems like a reasonable thing for society to insist upon.”
I'll admit the downside risk from this seems much smaller than for most other AI regs proposed.
No one should be able to order a bioweapon through the mail.
@IFP & @JoinFAI are proud to co-lead an open letter calling for mandatory DNA synthesis screening & recordkeeping.
Signatories include:
- Sam Altman, CEO & Co-Founder, OpenAI
- Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder, Anthropic
- David Baker, Director, Institute for Protein Design; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Patrick Collison, CEO & Co-Founder, Stripe
- Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
- Demis Hassabis, CEO, Google DeepMind; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Emily Leproust, CEO & Co-Founder, Twist Bioscience
- Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School
- Gerald W. Parker, former Special Assistant to the President for Biosecurity and Pandemic Response
- Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI
- Alex Tabarrok, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
- Alexandr Wang, Chief AI Officer, Meta; Founder, Scale AI
- Christine E. Wormuth, President & CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative; 25th Secretary of the Army
Read the letter and see the full list of signatories: http://screendna.org
Many DNA synthesis companies voluntarily screen orders to mitigate biosecurity risks, but no law requires them to do so.
Leaders in AI, biotech, life sciences, national security, and the nucleic acid synthesis industry agree that Congress should act to strengthen safeguards against biological threats.
@deanwball put it well in the WSJ:
“If you’re synthesizing the stuff that yields biological life and viruses, we’re asking you to screen to see whether it is dangerous in some way. That seems like a reasonable thing for society to insist upon.”
Proud to have co-signed this letter. Bio capabilities of AI systems, including foreign and open source ones, are fast advancing. We can't assume that bad actors will not have access to such capabilities and need to ensure information is not the only bottleneck.
No one should be able to order a bioweapon through the mail.
@IFP & @JoinFAI are proud to co-lead an open letter calling for mandatory DNA synthesis screening & recordkeeping.
Signatories include:
- Sam Altman, CEO & Co-Founder, OpenAI
- Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder, Anthropic
- David Baker, Director, Institute for Protein Design; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Patrick Collison, CEO & Co-Founder, Stripe
- Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
- Demis Hassabis, CEO, Google DeepMind; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Emily Leproust, CEO & Co-Founder, Twist Bioscience
- Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School
- Gerald W. Parker, former Special Assistant to the President for Biosecurity and Pandemic Response
- Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI
- Alex Tabarrok, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
- Alexandr Wang, Chief AI Officer, Meta; Founder, Scale AI
- Christine E. Wormuth, President & CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative; 25th Secretary of the Army
Read the letter and see the full list of signatories: http://screendna.org
Many DNA synthesis companies voluntarily screen orders to mitigate biosecurity risks, but no law requires them to do so.
Leaders in AI, biotech, life sciences, national security, and the nucleic acid synthesis industry agree that Congress should act to strengthen safeguards against biological threats.
@deanwball put it well in the WSJ:
“If you’re synthesizing the stuff that yields biological life and viruses, we’re asking you to screen to see whether it is dangerous in some way. That seems like a reasonable thing for society to insist upon.”
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/top-ai-ceos-call-for-law-protecting-against-biological-weapons-88f2f99f
AI is an exciting tool for accelerating innovation, but it’s also exposing risks in our biotech industry.
Requiring supply chain safeguards to stop bioweapons from ending up in the hands of bad actors should be a no-brainer.
No one should be able to order a bioweapon through the mail.
@IFP & @JoinFAI are proud to co-lead an open letter calling for mandatory DNA synthesis screening & recordkeeping.
Signatories include:
- Sam Altman, CEO & Co-Founder, OpenAI
- Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder, Anthropic
- David Baker, Director, Institute for Protein Design; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Patrick Collison, CEO & Co-Founder, Stripe
- Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
- Demis Hassabis, CEO, Google DeepMind; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Emily Leproust, CEO & Co-Founder, Twist Bioscience
- Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School
- Gerald W. Parker, former Special Assistant to the President for Biosecurity and Pandemic Response
- Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI
- Alex Tabarrok, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
- Alexandr Wang, Chief AI Officer, Meta; Founder, Scale AI
- Christine E. Wormuth, President & CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative; 25th Secretary of the Army
Read the letter and see the full list of signatories: http://screendna.org
Many DNA synthesis companies voluntarily screen orders to mitigate biosecurity risks, but no law requires them to do so.
Leaders in AI, biotech, life sciences, national security, and the nucleic acid synthesis industry agree that Congress should act to strengthen safeguards against biological threats.
@deanwball put it well in the WSJ:
“If you’re synthesizing the stuff that yields biological life and viruses, we’re asking you to screen to see whether it is dangerous in some way. That seems like a reasonable thing for society to insist upon.”
Important area of near universal agreement. No one should be able to order a bioweapon through the mail.
I am a proud signatory of this open letter.
No one should be able to order a bioweapon through the mail.
@IFP & @JoinFAI are proud to co-lead an open letter calling for mandatory DNA synthesis screening & recordkeeping.
Signatories include:
- Sam Altman, CEO & Co-Founder, OpenAI
- Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder, Anthropic
- David Baker, Director, Institute for Protein Design; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Patrick Collison, CEO & Co-Founder, Stripe
- Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
- Demis Hassabis, CEO, Google DeepMind; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Emily Leproust, CEO & Co-Founder, Twist Bioscience
- Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School
- Gerald W. Parker, former Special Assistant to the President for Biosecurity and Pandemic Response
- Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI
- Alex Tabarrok, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
- Alexandr Wang, Chief AI Officer, Meta; Founder, Scale AI
- Christine E. Wormuth, President & CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative; 25th Secretary of the Army
Read the letter and see the full list of signatories: http://screendna.org
Many DNA synthesis companies voluntarily screen orders to mitigate biosecurity risks, but no law requires them to do so.
Leaders in AI, biotech, life sciences, national security, and the nucleic acid synthesis industry agree that Congress should act to strengthen safeguards against biological threats.
@deanwball put it well in the WSJ:
“If you’re synthesizing the stuff that yields biological life and viruses, we’re asking you to screen to see whether it is dangerous in some way. That seems like a reasonable thing for society to insist upon.”
Proud to sign onto this letter on DNA/RNA synthesis screening, which includes not just AI CEOs but also preeminent biologists, national security experts, and representatives of the nucleic acid synthesis industry itself.
This is a no brainer. Let's get it done.
No one should be able to order a bioweapon through the mail.
@IFP & @JoinFAI are proud to co-lead an open letter calling for mandatory DNA synthesis screening & recordkeeping.
Signatories include:
- Sam Altman, CEO & Co-Founder, OpenAI
- Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder, Anthropic
- David Baker, Director, Institute for Protein Design; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Patrick Collison, CEO & Co-Founder, Stripe
- Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
- Demis Hassabis, CEO, Google DeepMind; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Emily Leproust, CEO & Co-Founder, Twist Bioscience
- Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School
- Gerald W. Parker, former Special Assistant to the President for Biosecurity and Pandemic Response
- Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI
- Alex Tabarrok, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
- Alexandr Wang, Chief AI Officer, Meta; Founder, Scale AI
- Christine E. Wormuth, President & CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative; 25th Secretary of the Army
Read the letter and see the full list of signatories: http://screendna.org
Many DNA synthesis companies voluntarily screen orders to mitigate biosecurity risks, but no law requires them to do so.
Leaders in AI, biotech, life sciences, national security, and the nucleic acid synthesis industry agree that Congress should act to strengthen safeguards against biological threats.
@deanwball put it well in the WSJ:
“If you’re synthesizing the stuff that yields biological life and viruses, we’re asking you to screen to see whether it is dangerous in some way. That seems like a reasonable thing for society to insist upon.”
Arbitrary protein synthesis is a bit of a terrifying capability and for a long time we’ve basically said “Eh it would take a group of very smart people going very off their rockers for this to be a concern.”
That has been known to happen in history, even prior to AI.
Many of my mutuals are also signatories, congratulations to all of them.
And there is a real chance that powerful capabilities make us better in the long term on biorisk but I’d really like to see the long-term arrive so, in these weird interim years when we have humans eyeballing proteins, let’s be a wee bit careful.
Thrilled to see this letter. As AI accelerates our ability to explore the dual-use nature of reality, we need to accelerate our defenses.
No one should be able to order a bioweapon through the mail.
@IFP & @JoinFAI are proud to co-lead an open letter calling for mandatory DNA synthesis screening & recordkeeping.
Signatories include:
- Sam Altman, CEO & Co-Founder, OpenAI
- Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder, Anthropic
- David Baker, Director, Institute for Protein Design; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Patrick Collison, CEO & Co-Founder, Stripe
- Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
- Demis Hassabis, CEO, Google DeepMind; 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
- Emily Leproust, CEO & Co-Founder, Twist Bioscience
- Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School
- Gerald W. Parker, former Special Assistant to the President for Biosecurity and Pandemic Response
- Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI
- Alex Tabarrok, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
- Alexandr Wang, Chief AI Officer, Meta; Founder, Scale AI
- Christine E. Wormuth, President & CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative; 25th Secretary of the Army
Read the letter and see the full list of signatories: http://screendna.org
Many DNA synthesis companies voluntarily screen orders to mitigate biosecurity risks, but no law requires them to do so.
Leaders in AI, biotech, life sciences, national security, and the nucleic acid synthesis industry agree that Congress should act to strengthen safeguards against biological threats.
@deanwball put it well in the WSJ:
“If you’re synthesizing the stuff that yields biological life and viruses, we’re asking you to screen to see whether it is dangerous in some way. That seems like a reasonable thing for society to insist upon.”
proud to see @deanwball, @ZacharyGraves, and so many other leading voices in AI, bio, and natsec (and at @JoinFAI and @IFP!) supporting measures to keep bioweapons out of the hands of bad actors
Speaking of smart people going off their rockers: there was, once upon a time, a religious organization which developed enough of a following among biochemists to successfully make multiple facilities that could synthesize sarin gas. They released it in Tokyo subways, etc.
You might be interested in this comprehensive strategy we put out today for tackling the full problem:
Written by the folks at Sentinel Bio. They have a lot of experience hands-on with this, e.g. their team recently red-teamed synthesis providers by trying to get a fragment of the Ebola virus shipped to their office.
We (Tokyo we and global humanity we) got very lucky in that it turns out the hard part of turning sarin into a mass casualty event is not the making of sarin.
Covid, OTOH, only thing that was required was enough virus to infect one person and then we were off to the races.
@rayefull glad the company you worked with did voluntary screening, but one of the main points we're trying to emphasize is that there's no law currently requiring them to do so. A reckless gene synthesis startup looking to make a quick buck could skip screening entirely if they wanted.
Today, @IFP and @JoinFAI released an open letter calling for mandatory screening of orders for synthetic DNA.
Signatories include Demis Hassabis, Sam Altman, and Dario Amodei.
The AI focus of the letter is intentional. We're rapidly approaching a world where bad actors could use AI design tools and custom-built DNA to cause the next pandemic.
But even with mandatory screening policies, the challenge is far from solved. Founders and technical experts need to build technologies that actually enable effective screening, and philanthropists are needed to support them.
That’s why today, we’re releasing a field strategy authored by @JanikaSchmitt and @jtmonrad.
It's a list of what needs to be built to fully secure the DNA supply chain, and why.
You can read it here: https://ifp.org/how-to-secure-the-dna-supply-chain/
If you want to work on or fund one of these problems, please reach out!
It’s great to see AI leaders like Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Demis Hassabis calling for mandatory DNA synthesis screening, which is a no-brainer policy for preventing (AI-enabled) bioterrorism.
But fewer than 50 people in the world currently work on DNA security full-time.
We need a comprehensive plan and at least 5x as many people to secure the DNA supply chain before AI and biotech outpace us.
@jtmonrad and I spent the past two years developing a field strategy for how to do it.
Successfully defending against this risk (while still capturing innovation benefits) requires four things:
1. Coverage: More than 80% of synthetic DNA providers screen both orders and customers
2. Strategic ambiguity: a bad actor can’t easily tell which providers will screen their order
3. Access: legitimate customers can still order DNA cheaply and easily
4. Effectiveness: 90% of providers reliably catch dangerous sequences when red-teamed
We’re already seeing real momentum. Many DNA providers screen voluntarily, and governments in several countries are moving toward mandates. But that doesn’t mean the problem will be solved in time by default.
Our guide lays out exactly which projects we need to launch. We’re looking for founders, operators, and technical experts to own pieces of the solution. We’re also hiring a Senior Program Officer at Sentinel to drive this work. Get in touch if you or someone you know would be a strong fit! (links for EOI form and JD below)
Read our full field strategy in @IFP's Launch Sequence: https://ifp.org/how-to-secure-the-dna-supply-chain/
@jtmonrad @IFP @JoinFAI it really is insane