The chiefs of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies signed an open letter calling on Congress to mandate screening of synthetic nucleic acid orders, warning that advancing AI is eroding the knowledge barriers that once kept biological weapons out of reach.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, and Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman signed the letter, published on screendna.org by the nonpartisan Institute for Progress and the Foundation for American Innovation.
“There is a real possibility that the knowledge barriers which have historically prevented bad actors from obtaining biological weapons will meaningfully erode,” the letter states.
The signatories call for two measures: mandatory screening of synthetic DNA and RNA orders against databases of dangerous sequences, and mandatory recordkeeping to let biosecurity investigators trace suspicious orders — including cases where individual sequences would not raise concern in isolation.
AI systems now outperform PhD-level virologists on highly technical laboratory questions, the letter notes. It stops short of claiming an immediate threat, acknowledging the evidence is “genuinely mixed,” but argues the trajectory warrants action now.
Scientists and governments have long recognized synthetic DNA ordering as a vulnerability in the biotechnology supply chain. After researchers published protocols to reconstruct viruses from DNA strands more than two decades ago, synthesis companies formed the International Gene Synthesis Consortium in 2009 to develop voluntary safeguards — measures the letter argues are no longer sufficient.
“Many of the largest and most responsible providers in the industry already screen and record orders voluntarily,” the letter reads. Incomplete adoption, it argues, leaves the supply chain exposed as AI capabilities accelerate.
H.R. 3029, the Nucleic Acid Standards for Biosecurity Act, passed the House Science Committee by voice vote in April 2025 but targets voluntary standards rather than mandates. A more stringent companion measure, S. 3741 — the Biosecurity Modernization and Innovation Act of 2026 — would require the Secretary of Commerce to issue mandatory regulations on nucleic acid synthesis security.
The letter calls for action “this session” and urges states to adopt requirements based on existing federal guidelines rather than allow a “patchwork of conflicting laws” to emerge.
Signatories beyond the major AI executives include Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, Nobel laureate and Institute for Protein Design Director David Baker, MIT biosecurity researcher Kevin Esvelt, and former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, now president of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
“This is a rare moment of agreement across stakeholders that are often at odds,” the letter reads. “We hope policymakers will meet it with decisive action.”
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