On Thursday, June 4, at 10:00 a.m. ET, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council will host its latest meeting, discussing the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) advancement for national biodefense.
AI models have progressed at a rapid pace in recent years, offering increasing sophistication and reducing productivity and knowledge barriers. At the same time, our enemies can leverage these tools to assist in the creation of biological weapons. This meeting of the commission will examine how advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models and biological design tools may accelerate biological weapons development, as well as the ways in which AI is changing the biological threat landscape for nation states, terrorist groups, violent extremists, and lone actors. The discussion will also touch upon defensive activities to mitigate the use of AI in biological weapons development that go beyond screening DNA synthesis orders, as well as methods to detect, deny, and disrupt AI-enabled biological weapons activity before use.
This event will not be livestreamed. A recording of the event will be made available at a later date.
New policy: In-person attendees will be required to show photo ID upon arrival, and no on-site registration will be permitted. Guests will not be admitted later than twenty minutes after the event’s start time.
We highly encourage pre-registration by 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, June 3.
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Speakers
More speakers to be announced.
Agenda
10:00–10:10 a.m. | Welcome remarks
Speakers
Donna Shalala
Co-Chair,
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense,
Atlantic Council
Tom Ridge
Co-Chair,
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense,
Atlantic Council
10:10–11:15 a.m. | Panel one: Prompt to pathogen
Leading AI developers and model evaluators will discuss where current and emerging systems may assist the path from malicious intent to biological weapons development, what safety evaluations have revealed, how guardrails are implemented, when government involvement is involved, and how information hazards are managed.
Richard Johnson
National Security Risk Mitigation Lead,
OpenAI
Justin Taylor
CBRNE Safeguards,
Anthropic
11:15 a.m.–12:20 p.m. | Panel two: The threat actors’ new playbook
National security and academic experts will examine how AI changes our adversaries’ calculus of biological weapons development and deployment ranging from nation states to lone wolves.
Kevin Esvelt
Associate Professor, MIT Media Lab
Co-Founder, SecureBio and SecureDNA Foundation
John Parachini
Senior International and Defense Researcher and Professor of Policy Analysis,
RAND Corporation
Ryan Ritterson
Former Specialist Leader, Deloitte;
Former Executive Vice President of Research and Partner, Gryphon Scientific
12:20–1:05 p.m. | Lunch
Join us for our lunch break.
1:05–2:10 p.m. | Panel three: Beyond the screen
Experts will discuss the layers of defense needed beyond screening DNA synthesis including controlling access to powerful AI tools, strengthening laboratory and supply-chain protections, and building early-warning systems.
Allison Berke
Senior Engineer,
RAND Corporation
Matt McKnight
Founder and Chief Executive Officer,
Perimeter Systems, Inc.
Jake Jordan
Vice President, Global Biological Policy and Programs,
Nuclear Threat Initiative
Sarah R. Carter
Senior Fellow, Federation of American Scientists;
Principal, Science Policy Consulting LLC
2:10–2:20 p.m. | Break
Break in programming.
2:20–3:25 p.m. | Panel four: The engine room
Technology providers and independent evaluators will discuss the infrastructure beneath AI models themselves such as local computing hardware, cloud capabilities, and automated research tools, and whether government and outside evaluators have adequate visibility into the biological risks these systems may pose.
Jonas Sandbrink
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Sentinel Bio;
Former Founding Technical Staff, UK AI Security Institute
Lala R. Qadir
Senior Director for Technology Security and AI Policy,
Microsoft
3:25–3:35 p.m. | Closing remarks
Featuring
Donna Shalala
Co-Chair,
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense,
Atlantic Council
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The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of US biodefense and recommends changes to policy and law that strengthen national biodefense while optimizing biodefense resources.
The Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security works to develop sustainable, nonpartisan strategies to address the most important security challenges facing the United States and the world.
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