AI Can Now Design Functional Viruses. Should We Worry?

Re:AI Can Now Design Functional Viruses. Should We Worry? by timr on Saturday August 15, 2026 @02:26PM (#49312985)

> Uhhh right... but all the other hard parts are being solved too, correct? LLMs are clearly going to solve a part that, 10 years ago, one would've assumed would be one of the highest and last barriers to go down.

No.

No, the barriers I'm talking about aren't coming down. Not quickly anyway.

No, nobody assumed this was the "highest and last barrier". That's the point you keep missing.

LLMs are not "solving" the rate-limiting step here. It only looks that way if you don't know what's involved.

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Re:AI Can Now Design Functional Viruses. Should We Worry? by estearum on Saturday August 15, 2026 @04:03PM (#49313808)

Why don’t you just scroll up and answer with your timeline estimates so we can talk about something concrete instead of playing this goofy shell game?

“No no some other step is hard. I won’t say what it is. No it’s not getting easier, miraculously, but I can’t say what it is.”

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