MIT Technology Review invites subscribers to an exclusive roundtable on October 16, 2026, exploring whether AI can design new life forms.
In 2025, Stanford University PhD student Samuel King provided a preliminary answer, using a generative AI model to propose genetic blueprints for microscopic viruses. While this is not yet AI-generated life, the possibility of that happening next is now on the table.
Senior AI reporter James O'Donnell interviews King about his work, his recognition as one of MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35, and new ways of seeing biology. The session goes live at 18:30 BST / 1:30pm EDT / 10:30am PDT.
Related coverage includes King's experiment where he asked an AI to design viruses — and it worked — as well as reporting that AI-designed viruses are already being used to kill bacteria.
Source: MIT Technology Review AI · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing