Thanks for drawing this line between biorisk and AI risk.
Somewhat related: I often draw parallels between threat models in cyber security and certain biosecurity questions such as DNA synthesis screening. After reading your write-up, these two seem much closer related than biorisk and AI risk and I’d say cyber security is often a helpful analogy for biosecurity in certain contexts. Sometimes biosecurity intersects directly with cyber security, that is when critical information is stored digitally (like DNA sequences of concern). Would be interested in your opinion.
Hi, I’m Sebastian. I’m a mathematics graduate that spent the last two years in entrepreneurship. About nine months ago, I started to actively engage with EA through the Biosecurity Fundamentals course by BlueDot Impact (although I’ve known about EA for a long time).
My current focus is biosecurity. I am particularly interested in biotech aspects such as DNA synthesis screening, wastewater surveillance and vaccine development. Since my expertise is mostly in data analysis, computation and software development (as opposed to bioinformatics or virology) I’m struggling somewhat with getting my foot in the biotech/biosecurity door.
Concretely, I’m currently working on a project for the AI Safety Fundamentals course for which I look into risks posed by AI-powered biological design tools and de novo / in silico protein design.
If you want to learn more about my past work and interests, check out my website (link in my profile). Looking forward to participating more actively here on the forums and generally in the EA community :)