Why go for the cures right?
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That graphic looks like the cover of an O'Reilly book
this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2026
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"We did it, Patrick! We made a technological breakthrough!"
A place for all those who loathe AI to discuss things, post articles, and ridicule the AI hype. Proud supporter of working people. And proud booer of SXSW 2024.
AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
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"Grok. Engineer me a highly infectious virus. Optimize it to have high lethality to ethnic groups other than my own, but low lethality to my own ethnic group."
This world is cursed.
The first physical computer virus
AI is a synthetic virus.
I'm guessing it created it the same way i created a giant eight limbed creature called an Octophant, using a piece of paper and a pencil.
It does not make it exist.
A version of this came out of a DND campaign. They're called octen. Like oxen, but octen. They're like regular oxen, except they have eight legs. The legs have the same fur and color as cattle legs, but then bend up and move like a tarantula's.
According to this non-paywalled article, it created thousands of potential genomes from which the scientists running the experiment chose three hundred promising candidates. They then had bacteria make those and used them for their bacteriophagy experiment. So essentially the AI made the blueprints that the scientists then turned into real stuff.
Let's get real here. Could the bacteria make my Octophant if I clean up the pencil lines?!
Cat girls first dangit! Get in line.
Unfortunately the science hasn't gotten that far yet, but maybe in the future.
Same question to you, why would you do this?
Consider the military and industrial applications of the octophant.
[You Have Been Reported to the Raytheon Ethics Board]
[Congratulations on your Sydney gottlieb ethics in STEM award! The bonus should show up in your account by Monday!]
[All Clear. Proceed]
Same answer: The hubris of man.
Same way we all created the sun, and built a house next to it as children. All without picking up a hammer. Lazy kids.
Yes and no. Going from a design to production takes remarkably little time these days.
So you just scan his picture of an octophant and print it out and it exists? I'd bet you have a bunch of meat and no life. That said, please spend the time and effort into something more productive instead of a octophant was the point
That said, please spend the time and effort into something more productive
Like curing antibiotic-resistant bacterial diseases? Because that's what the experiment was for.
An octophant is a bacterial disease? Lol
And yes this experiment may be an absolutely stupid thing to do. Could it work out in a extremely well regulated extremely tight secure facility, sure.
Is that happening, not in the U.S., we are cutting all the regulations and health precautions, so if what they create ever kills good bacteria as well during the tests, you should assume it will be spreading to the population.
Why wasn't it contained? Our research grants were cut in half so we skipped on the precautions. Also the regulatory board no longer exists, and our OSHA equivalent hasn't stopped by in over 2 years. I think they may have shut down
Yes and no. Going from a design to production takes remarkably little time these days.
Are there commercial virus-printing services? If so, what keeps some yahoo from sending them the virus-equivalent of a .stl file for smallpox? Can someone just order virulent pathogens printed on command?
Assuming that it will work from the first try
I mean, it's a known process.
There's a YouTube channel called Thought Emporium.
The guy used to do live streams were he designed custom DNA, and then ordered it from a lab that could produce it.
It was a simple commercial transaction.
Why go for the cures right?
That's literally what a bacteriophage is.
For the uninitiated, the scientists created bacteriophages, viruses that eat bacteria and are being studied as a way to cure bacterial diseases without using antibiotics. Non-paywalled article: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/06/safety-fears-as-scientists-make-first-viruses-designed-by-ai
For real. I hate AI but people need to read the damn article.
Sorry, but the anti-AI movement is about as well informed as the anti-vax and flat-earth movement.
I am pro-AI and yet fully agree it needs to be ethically and responsibly used and regulated. Data super-centers bad, Grok bad, ChatGPT bad, etc.
I have even seen people say "LLMs can only be chatbots and all chatbots are bad!" Not understanding that this type of research, as well as weather prediction, and animal behaviour studies, all use LLMs.
And every time I've attempted to broach the subject, I've been accused of being an OpenAI fanboy, etc.
“My AI created a virus that cures all autoimmune diseases!”
*squint* “this is just HIV”
This is like watching Contagion from 2011 during the pandemic.
We really are the dumbest of species, aren't we?
Are you saying this because researchers made a bacteriaphage? Are you under the assumption that they are, or can be, dangerous to us?
yup yup yuppers
Every movie ever: Don't worry, it can't escape the lab!
You realize your body is host to literally trillions of bacteriaphages right now? "Virus" doesn't automatically mean universal infecting agent. They need to be calibrated to specific bio-markers. Most bacteriaphages only infect a SINGLE species of bacteria.
And before you mention mutations and cross-species jumps, there is a very big difference between the viruses that infect you and I, and bacteriaphages. There has never, ever, not even one single solitary time, been an instance of a bacteriaphage suddenly mutating to start infecting macro-organisms.
Literally my first thought.
AI SOLVES THE FERMI PARADOX
Bacteriaphages are no more dangerous to complex life than a knife is to single-cellular life.
I wouldn't say "solves" so much as answers whether our great filter is ahead of us or behind us (it's the former, btw).
Humans have designed viruses before so ya nothing fermi breaking aqui.
"AI cloned Will Smith and then filmed him eating spaghetti!" ...the media are fucking lost when it comes to AI news. They're just creating propaganda at this point.
So gain of function is even more efficient. Fucking fantastic. Getting yelled at by both parties is just so grand. What a wonderful world
Wasn't this awhile back?
Doesn't matter antigen and immunology is just as easy.