AI Just Designed Viruses That Kill Bacteria... And They Actually Work
eWEEK, Wednesday, October 15th, 2025
Stanford scientists just crossed a wild milestone: they used AI to design viruses from scratch that can kill bacteria
This is not theoretical code, but actual working viruses that replicate and destroy bacterial cells. And before you ask, no, they did not 'vibe code' the viruses.
Here's what they did
The team created 302 virus designs using AI, and 16 of them successfully infected E. coli bacteria in the lab. One night, researchers saw plaques of dead bacteria in their petri dishes.