Top AI CEOs call for law protecting against biological weapons

The South Carolina National Guard Civil Response Team participated in a joint training at the Bluff Road Armory in Columbia, South Carolina, June 1, 2026 to maintain readiness for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and other hazard response operations. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Tim Andrews)

By Amrith Ramkumar • Jun 04, 2026

Top artificial intelligence executives are joining security experts in calling for Congress to protect against biological threats posed by AI, adding to growing pressure on lawmakers to address the technology’s risks.

Three major chief executive officers — OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Demis Hassabis of Google’s DeepMind AI lab — are among the signatories of a letter urging Congress to require safeguards when companies order synthetic DNA and RNA, a key step in developing certain vaccines and biotech breakthroughs.

The goal is to make companies that sell the synthetic nucleic acids screen customer orders to block any combinations that could be dangerous, and make sure the customers who place the orders are legitimate.