Roundtables: A Conversation With the Creator of AI-Designed Viruses
MIT Technology Review is hosting a live roundtable on Friday, October 16, 2026, at 18:30 BST / 1:30pm EDT / 10:30am PDT. Senior AI reporter James O'Donnell will interview Samuel King, a bioengineering PhD candidate at Stanford University and the Arc Institute, about his work using generative AI to design viruses.
King, a 2025 Stanford PhD student, used a generative AI model to propose genetic blueprints for microscopic viruses. MIT Technology Review notes this is not yet AI-generated life, but that could come next. King was also named one of MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35, and the conversation will cover new ways of seeing biology.
Registration is required for the event.
Why it matters: The session offers developers and product teams a direct look at how generative models are moving into biological design, a domain with significant safety and ethics implications. For those tracking AI's expansion beyond text and images, this is a concrete example of the technology's reach into synthetic biology.
Based on reporting from the original publisher. Visit the source for full context and later updates.
Publisher excerpt
Friday, October 16, 2026 Can AI design new life forms? In 2025, Stanford University PhD student Samuel King came up with a preliminary answer when he used a generative AI model to propose genetic blueprints for microscopic viruses. It isn’t yet an example of AI-generated life, but that could be next. Join senior AI reporter…