Mustafa Suleyman, the billionaire co-founder of Google DeepMind AI technology, has warned that a super-pandemic developed through AI and genetic engineering is one of the biggest threats facing the planet. He made the warning in an episode of the “Diary of a CEO” podcast.
According to Suleyman, the ability to engineer a deadly pandemic, such as the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), could potentially become commonplace before the end of this decade.
Suleyman added that in the next five years or so, a regular person could easily download the instruction set for a pandemic that’s “more lethal” than anything the world has encountered so far. He warned that this is why the world needs “containment.”
AI and genetic engineering could do more harm than good
Technology is evolving quickly and Suleyman added that it is crucial to “limit access to the tools and the know-how to carry out that kind of experimentation,” especially since many people are often “experimenting with dangerous materials,” he said.
Something dangerous like anthrax can’t be bought over the internet, making it hard to freely experiment with. But while it is difficult to turn anthrax into a weapon of mass destruction, it is possible to grow the bacteria in a lab and distribute small quantities piecemeal, even through the mail.
According to Norman Cheville, dean of Iowa State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine, growing anthrax is easy and you can even grow it overnight.
Until the mid-1990s, the U.S. government didn’t keep detailed information on who shared and sold samples of anthrax and other dangerous bacteria. In the mid-1980s, before the Persian Gulf War, the not-for-profit biological supply company American Type Culture Collection sold three strains of anthrax to Iraq. Some say Iraq used the bacteria to create biological weapons.
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