Kevin Esvelt

Rule Changes

Supports the policy, argues its 50-nucleotide threshold leaves a gap

Any U.S. scientist who takes federal money and orders synthetic DNA will soon have to buy it from a supplier the government has vetted. The National Policy for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening, released on 5 November, ends a voluntary system that has governed the industry since 2010.

Updated 2 days ago

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Leading biosecurity voice calling for extreme caution

Stanford and Arc Institute researchers used an AI called Evo to write genetic code for 302 bacteriophage viruses from scratch. Sixteen of them worked—they replicated, killed bacteria, and some even outperformed the natural virus they were modeled on. It's the first time a machine has designed complete, functional genomes without human input on gene selection or arrangement.

Updated May 19