AI chatbots could help plan bioweapon attacks, report finds

In one test scenario, the anonymised LLM identified potential biological agents – including those that cause smallpox (pictured) – and discussed their relative chances of causing mass death. Photograph: Science Photo Library/Alamy

The artificial intelligence models underpinning chatbots could help plan an attack with a biological weapon, according to research by a US thinktank.

A report by the Rand Corporation released on Monday tested several large language models (LLMs) and found they could supply guidance that “could assist in the planning and execution of a biological attack”. However, the preliminary findings also showed that the LLMs did not generate explicit biological instructions for creating weapons.