The National Academy of Medicine (探花app), in collaboration with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and with support from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), will convene a two-day workshop on August 11-12, 2026, examining how advances in artificial intelligence (AI) may reshape biological risks, preparedness, and response in the years ahead.
As AI increasingly transforms the life sciences, including biological design, disease detection, and drug discovery, experts are working to better understand how these technologies could affect biosecurity, public health, and medical countermeasure preparedness. The workshop will bring together leaders from AI, biotechnology, public health, medicine, biosecurity, government, and industry to examine how AI-enabled biological risks may evolve, identify critical uncertainties, and explore opportunities to strengthen preparedness systems.
鈥Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing听what is possible in听biology, from scientific discovery to the听development of听tools听that听protect public health. At the same time, these advances raise important questions about听how biological risks may evolve听and听whether current preparedness systems are equipped to respond,鈥 said Victor J. Dzau, 探花app president.听鈥This workshop will bring together experts from across disciplines to help clarify those risks, identify knowledge gaps, and explore practical steps to strengthen preparedness for future biological threats.鈥听
Discussions will explore how AI may meaningfully expand biological capabilities, with particular attention to AI-enabled biological and viral design.听The workshop will听examine how risks may听emerge across the AI-bio lifecycle, from model development and biological design to synthesis, access, detection, and deployment, while also focusing on听distinguishing what may be technically possible from what is likely in practice, identifying key uncertainties, and considering how public health, biosecurity, and preparedness systems may need to adapt to emerging technologies.
A multidisciplinary planning committee has been听convened听to help design the workshop and听identify听key topics for discussion. Committee members bring听expertise听spanning AI, computational biology, synthetic biology, genomics, infectious diseases, biosecurity and biosafety, medical countermeasure development, public health preparedness, global health, and science and technology policy. The Workshop Planning Committee Members are listed below.听
- Lalitha Sundaram, PhD, University of Cambridge (Co-chair)听
- Herbert 鈥淪kip鈥 Virgin, MD, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine (Co-chair)听
- Kate Adamala, PhD,鈥疷niversity of Minnesota听
- Jasper G枚tting, PhD,鈥疭别肠耻谤别叠颈辞听
- Christian Happi, PhD,鈥疪edeemer鈥檚 University; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health听
- Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, PhD,鈥疉*STAR听听
- Harshini Mukundan, PhD,鈥疞awrence Berkeley National Laboratory听
- Suryesh Kumar Namdeo, PhD,鈥疘ndian Institute of Science,听Bangalore听
- Amarda Shehu, PhD,鈥疓eorge Mason University听
- Yunyun Wang, OpenAI
Insights from the workshop will help inform a forthcoming National Academies听听focused on how advances in AI and biotechnology may change biological risks and preparedness needs in the future. The study will examine both the potential benefits and risks of these technologies, including their implications for the development of vaccines, treatments, diagnostics, and public health response systems. The final report will provide recommendations to help policymakers, researchers, public health leaders, and other stakeholders strengthen preparedness for emerging biological threats.
Learn more about preparing for a future of AI-enabled biology.
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