But the breakthrough also points to the ability of AI to design new biology that goes beyond the natural world – what is known as synthetic biology.
Hie argues this has the potential to “massively improve human health” by developing new drugs and therapies.
But concerns have already been raised that the same technology could be used maliciously to create new diseases.
In a commentary accompanying the publication in the journal Science, Dr Thomas Inglesby and Dr Moritz Hanke from the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University wrote that the findings raise “urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions”.
They said it was no longer a question of “whether generative viral genome design will exist” but whether it can be used without “enabling serious harm”.
For example, they said new viruses with the potential to cause disease “should not be pursued”.
The researchers themselves took steps to maximise safety. They excluded viruses that could infect complex organisms from the training database, performed the research on phage rather than viruses that infect people and it all took place in a secure laboratory.
Hie argues even existing safeguards go a long way towards “ensuring that the technology is used for good”.