(Wired) – Of all the threats presented by uncontrollable artificial intelligence, scientists say death by plague ranks low.

Despite the alarm around an AI-created killer plague, many scientists say the risk is fairly low on the list of the world’s concerns.

David Bellamy, a research scientist at the Institute of Foundation Models in Sunnyvale, California, does not see AI as a fundamentally new threat when it comes to the creation of bioweapons. The scientific community has grappled for decades with the question of whether to publish potentially dangerous biological research—known as the dual-use dilemma.

Before large language models, the internet itself, open-access science journals, and translation services like Google Translate made it easier for people to access biological information, including lab protocols, Bellamy says. (Read More)