# There Are Plenty of Reasons to Be Concerned About Bioweapons Development—Even Without AI

> **Publication**: aitalky (Independent AI Journalism)
> **Canonical Citation URL**: https://aitalky.vercel.app/news/there-are-plenty-of-reasons-to-be-concerned-about-bioweapons-development-even
> **Original Source**: [Wired AI](https://www.wired.com/story/you-dont-need-ai-to-be-concerned-about-bioweapons-development-but-it-helps/)
> **Author**: Michael Mechanic (undefined)
> **Published Date**: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
> **Category**: CULTURE
> **Tags**: AI, Wired AI, culture

## Executive Summary
In her new book on biological warfare, Annie Jacobsen didn't even discuss AI because scientists can already warp Mother Nature to create extinction-level events



## Full Coverage
We've been hearing a great deal recently about the specter of AI-driven human extinction . Maybe our misplaced trust in AI intelligence will set off World War III . Or AI agents will unleash widespread cyberattacks and take over the internet. Given too much autonomy, the machines will run amok. They may seek to deceive their creators—wait, that's already happened . Suppose they conclude, like Agent Smith in The Matrix , that "human beings … are a plague, and we are the cure." Or perhaps the chatbots help bad humans unleash a literal plague—a biological weapon

That last one isn't merely theoretical. A "misuse" report Anthropic made public earlier this month detailed five cases in which foreign scientists tried to evade Claude's guardrails on "gain of function" inquiries. That's a euphemism for when scientists tinker with a pathogen's genes to enhance it in some way, making it more infectious, deadlier, or better able to spread among mammals, for example

Anthropic denied those users the answers they sought and cut off their accounts, even while noting that their motives may not have been sinister. Such information also can be used to help scientist develop pandemic countermeasures like vaccines and drugs. And there's the rub. Like so many technologies, AI included, genetic engineering can be used for both good and evil. Hence another euphemism: "dual use."

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