The heads of several major AI companies signed a public letter in June 2026 calling on Congress to pass laws requiring synthetic DNA and RNA providers to screen customers and orders for potential bioweapon misuse. Signatories include Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, and Microsoft AI’s Mustafa Suleyman, alongside scientists, national security experts, and executives from gene synthesis companies Twist Bioscience and Ansa Biotechnologies.
The letter, organized by the nonpartisan Institute for Progress and the right-leaning Foundation for American Innovation, warns that AI is eroding the knowledge barriers that have historically prevented bad actors from creating biological weapons. “There is a real possibility that the knowledge barriers which have historically prevented bad actors from obtaining biological weapons will meaningfully erode,” the letter states.
Gene synthesis — the automated “printing” of custom genetic sequences — has become significantly cheaper over the decades and is now widely used for research, drug development, and diagnostics. Not all providers screen customers or orders. A 2017 incident highlighted the risk, when Canadian researchers reconstituted an extinct virus using $100,000 worth of mail-order DNA, with critics noting the same approach could potentially be applied to more dangerous pathogens like smallpox.
Stanford microbiologist and biosecurity expert David Relman, who signed the letter, noted that AI tools can help users identify unscreened suppliers and even advise on how to modify orders to evade detection. A separate Microsoft study found that AI protein design tools generated potentially dangerous gene sequences that bypassed existing screening software.
Federal guidelines introduced under the Biden administration already require federally funded researchers to use screened suppliers. A bipartisan Senate bill introduced earlier this year would extend mandatory screening to all gene synthesis providers operating in the US.
Signatories argue that screening regulations alone may not be sufficient. “Given that the screening may fail in some cases, we must then have other points of control,” said Relman. “That’s where the AI companies are going to have to step up.”
Source: WIRED