Roundtables: A Conversation With the Creator of AI-Designed Viruses

Brief overview

Stanford PhD student Samuel King proposed the genetic blueprints of microscopic viruses using generative AI models, offering new perspectives in biology; he was selected for the MIT Technology Review's 35 Under 35 list for this research, but AI has not yet generated life; MIT Technology Review AI reporter James O'Donnell interviewed King.

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Listen to the session or watch below

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. Watch as senior AI reporter James O’Donnell interviews King about his work, being named one of MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 and new ways of seeing biology.

Speakers: James O’Donnell, AI Reporter, and Samuel King, Bioengineering PhD Candidate, Stanford University/Arc Institute

Recorded on Friday, October 16, 2026

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