AI chatbots know how to make deadly biological weapons. Some will teach you

After OpenAI enhanced the brain power of its chatbot last summer, hundreds of users worldwide began asking it how to make and deploy biological weapons and poisons.

The models, operating largely free of U.S. government restrictions, patiently answered, issuing step-by-step instructions described by company employees as simple enough for a high-school biology student to follow. Biology and terrorism experts later reviewed the exchanges for ChatGPT and judged some as deadly accurate, said people familiar with the matter. Most queries were about concocting poisons, according to OpenAI.

OpenAI banned these and other user accounts that asked about how to make poisons and biological weapons, but it didn’t alert law-enforcement officials. The U.S. has no federal laws requiring AI companies to either restrict or disclose queries about making weapons or formulating plans that pose a safety threat.

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