Here’s a bargain of the most horrifying kind: For less than $100,000, it may now be possible to use artificial intelligence to develop a virus that could kill millions of people.
That’s the conclusion of Jason Matheny, the president of the RAND Corporation, a think tank that studies security matters and other issues.
“It wouldn’t cost more to create a pathogen that’s capable of killing hundreds of millions of people versus a pathogen that’s only capable of killing hundreds of thousands of people,” Matheny told me.
In contrast, he noted, it could cost billions of dollars to produce a new vaccine or antiviral in response.
