A new paper shows that a generative AI model can design viable bacteriophages.

A few months ago, Arc Institute released a new language model, called Evo 2, that can design entire genomes. In that original paper, though, the model’s designs — for a yeast chromosome and some small bacterial genomes — were entirely confined to a computer. The AI-generated genomes were not assembled or tested in the laboratory.

Although AI models are exceptionally good at designing proteins (including, recently, highly dynamic enzymes), there was little evidence that AI models could design viable genomes. Proteins are self-contained entities, made from a single strand of amino acids. But even the simplest genomes are composed of multiple genes and regulatory elements that must collaborate to build a functioning, living organism. A single mutation in a genome is often enough to render it entirely defunct.

But today, Arc Institute and Stanford University researchers have validated their designs in the real world, reporting the first viable genomes created using generative AI.