OpenAI funds biosecurity startup ‘Valthos' to stop AI-engineered pandemics

In order to counter the most severe potential dangers of artificial intelligence, a new startup called “Valthos” has emerged with $30 million in backing from OpenAI, Founders Fund, and Lux Capital.

The company envisions building early-warning and defense systems to prevent bioweapon attacks that could be engineered with the help of advanced AI.

Such an initiative addresses an emerging fear among AI researchers and national security experts i.e., a malicious actor could use AI to design a devastating pathogen.

As per a report from the Center for AI Safety stated a nightmare scenario where a terrorist, with minimal training, could use an AI to design a super virus combining the deadliest traits of known diseases.

The report also underlined a worst-case output of such AI-engineered bioweapons as “it’s a nightmare scenario: A terrorist without much training uses an artificial intelligence program to engineer a super virus.”

The startup is a nine-person, New York-based biosecurity software company, aims to build up tools that will help in early detection of such devastating bioweapons.

Such advanced tools will also help to counter AI-enabled biological threats.

The co-founder and CEO of the company, Kathleen McMahon, has officially come out of the stealth mode of the company to lead the startup with a potent blaze of financial resources provided by the dominant tech investors.

The funding indicates that some of the key members of the AI ecosystem are paying the existential risk of AI-powered bioterrorism.

OpenAI is putting money in Valthos as a proactive effort to invest in a venture that would build defenses against a disastrous misuse of the technology that it is creating.

The report of the Center of AI Safety recommends a multi-layered defense mechanism, such as enhanced supervision of DNA synthesis apparatus, limiting some biological data regarding general AI models, and enhancing health frameworks. 

Valthos's mission appears to align with this approach, focusing on creating the technological backbone for a new era of biosecurity.