Biorisk defense is man-made, not natural difficulty: the open-model bioweapon debate continues

JMannhart · x · 2026-09-11

JMannhart adds nuance to his biorisk debate with @tszzl: it's not that "extinction is just hard to do using bio", but that we have systems intentionally in place to make it harder. He expects humanity to "get its act together" to some degree if we live that long — contingent on those deliberate barriers persisting.

He previously argued an open-source model from 2029-2030 plus synthesis access could make bio attacks almost trivial; @tszzl says he's vastly underestimating the difficulty.

Related event: Debate Erupts Over AI Biosecurity Risk by 2029(2 posts)→

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