A Conversation With the Creator of AI-Designed Viruses

Summary

MIT Technology Review presents a subscriber-only conversation between senior AI reporter James O'Donnell and Samuel King, a Stanford University bioengineering PhD candidate affiliated with the Arc Institute. In 2025, King used a generative AI model to propose genetic blueprints for microscopic viruses, offering a preliminary answer to whether AI can design new life forms. The work is not yet an example of AI-generated life, but the conversation considers whether that could become possible in the future. King also discusses being named one of MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 and new ways of understanding biology. The session was recorded on October 16, 2026, and is available to subscribers as a video or listening session.