On Thursday, a team of researchers, led by Microsoft, announced that they had discovered and possibly corrected what they call a biological zero-neutralized security hole in a system that protects us from biological threats. The system on the risk screens purchases DNA sequences to determine when someone streamlines DNA, which encodes a toxin or a dangerous virus. But, according to the researchers, it is becoming increasingly vulnerable to passing a new threat: the developed AI toxins.
How great is this threat? To understand, you should know a little more about existing Biosurveillance programs, and about the capabilities developed by AI proteins.
Catch bad ones
Biological threats are various forms. Some of them are pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria. Others are protein-based toxins, such as ricin, which was Sent to the White House In 2003. Still others are chemical toxins that are produced by enzymatic reactions, such as molecules associated with red tideThe field all originates from the same fundamental biological process: DNA is transcribed in RNA, which is then used for the manufacture of proteins.
For several decades, the beginning of the process was as simple as the order of the necessary sequence of DNA on the Internet from any of the number of companies, which will synthesize the requested sequence and release it. Recognizing a potential threat here, government and industry worked together to add a screening step to each order: the DNA sequence is scanned by its ability to encode parts of proteins or viruses considered by threats. Then, any positive is marked for human intervention to evaluate whether they or people really order them a danger.
Both the list of proteins and the sophistication of scanning have been constantly updated in response to research research over the years. For example, the initial screening was carried out on the basis of similarities with the sequences of DNA -target. But there are many DNA sequences that can encode the same protein, so the screening algorithms were appropriately adjusted, recognizing all DNA options that pose an identical threat.
