FT : Airtel Africa taps more bankers for rare London IPO of mobile money busines

Airtel Africa taps more bankers for rare London IPO of mobile money business
Flotation could raise around $1.5bn and provide a much-needed boost for the UK’s depressed public markets

Airtel Africa is hiring more investment banks to work on a London listing for its mobile money business, as the telecoms group prepares a rare UK public offering as soon as the second half of this year.

The telecoms group in recent weeks received pitches from several banks looking to join the syndicate for the listing of its money transfer business, with Citi leading work on the deal that could value the unit at roughly $10bn (£7.5bn), according to people familiar with the matter.

At that level, the deal would be the largest new flotation in London since July 2021, when the British fintech Wise was valued at nearly £9bn in a landmark direct listing.

The move to engage with additional bankers in London confirms Airtel has settled on the UK capital as its preferred listing venue for its mobile money business after originally looking to list the business in the Middle East, according to people familiar with the plans.

The IPO could raise about $1.5bn, the people added.

The Airtel Money IPO may provide a much-needed boost for the UK’s depressed public markets, which have increasingly struggled to compete with the US for new flotations while a raft of London-based public companies have been taken over and delisted by private equity firms.

Airtel Africa, which was founded in 2010, is chaired by Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal and has grown to become Africa’s second-largest telecoms operator, tapping into the continent’s demand for mobile phones.

The company, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2019, was one of the best-performing stocks in the FTSE 100 last year, enjoying a 178.7 per cent share price rise,

Its Airtel Money arm has thousands of branches and small kiosks across Africa, which allow users to load money on to their phones and withdraw cash. It has over 54mn customers and posted revenues of $1.35bn in 2026. 

But plans to list its mobile money business have been repeatedly delayed.

Airtel originally aimed to list the mobile money business by 2025 but in May this year blamed the latest delay on “market conditions”.

It was originally looking at listing on a Middle Eastern exchange, but the company changed track due to geopolitical tensions in the region, according to people familiar with the matter.

Airtel considered other European venues but settled on London because of its international reputation and deep capital markets, according to one person familiar with the company.

Representatives for Citi, Airtel Africa and Airtel Money declined to comment.

The listing would come after several high-profile IPOs were pulled or pushed back because of concerns about market volatility. 

These included the €19bn float of software group Visma, roadside recovery group RAC and online travel agent Loveholidays, with advisers blaming factors such as the Iran war and rise of AI for choppy markets.

In total, London has hosted just seven listings in the first half of the year, raising £577.2mn, according to data from professional services company EY. Most of this came from the flotation of a stake in Uzbekistan’s national investment fund, which raised £511mn.

FT : Rome airport aims to expand before 2033 anniversary of Christ’s death Messi

Rome airport aims to expand before 2033 anniversary of Christ’s death
Messianic milestone will boost tourists and is unofficial deadline for new runway project

Rome’s largest international airport is pushing to complete a €9bn expansion plan in time for a major tourism event: The two thousandth anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

The city’s Fiumicino airport wants to finish the work by 2033, when it expects the number of visitors to the Vatican will be swelled even further by the landmark jubilee.

Christ was born around 4-6BC and was crucified and died in the year AD33, when Christians believe he also rose from the dead.

The airport expects growth to continue even without the Messianic milestone — but is urging Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to greenlight the work to begin construction within two years, chief executive Marco Troncone said. 

“If this happens, the new runway may be ready in 2033, in time, ideally, for the next iconic event . . . to mark 2,000 years after the death of Jesus Christ,” he told the FT.  

The expansion would enable the airport to process 100mn annual passengers by 2046, roughly double the number it received last year.

Troncone said the environment ministry had approved the project, which has also been backed by the transport ministry and deputy prime minister.

“We have some final work to do at the level of the prime minister’s office, which needs to be reassured that this project of course also delivers a lot of value for the public, not only for the private investor,” he said.

He also claimed locals who “normally are against these expansion projects are totally in favour”.

Rome is one of Europe’s most significant tourism cities, with the Colosseum and the Pantheon, as well as the Vatican, which is the centre of the Roman Catholic Church. 

The privately funded plan includes a fourth runway, a new terminal complex and additional terminal facilities. Around €5bn of the €9bn investment plan would be spent on expansion and another €4bn on upgrading existing facilities. 

Troncone said the airport has seen a rise in US tourists recently, boosted by the strength of the dollar. The fact that the new Pope, Leo XIV, is from Chicago may also be drawing more US Catholics to Vatican City. 

The airport had assumed that the US was a “mature” market, but visitors from North America are now 50 per cent higher than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, he added. 

He expects “structural growth” in passenger numbers as more people travel to the city and change to destinations across the country — with a significant increase from Asian countries such as China, India and Indonesia, as “billions of people” can afford to fly for the first time. 

FT : Starlink mobile threat has been exaggerated, says T-Mobile CEO Boss of US n

Starlink mobile threat has been exaggerated, says T-Mobile CEO
Boss of US network sceptical that Elon Musk’s planned entry into cell market will solve customer problems

The chief executive of T-Mobile said the threat posed to mobile operators from satellite companies such as Elon Musk’s Starlink has been exaggerated and that he struggled to see which consumer problems they would solve by entering the market.

“You’ve got to ask the question of ‘What is the gap in the market that they’re looking to serve?’ Srini Gopalan told the FT in an interview.

“I always prefer starting these conversations back from the customer: Why would a customer buy a new cellular service? Where do they go? What’s their differentiation? It’s clearly not having a broad network,” he said.

Gopalan’s comments came before Musk confirmed this week that SpaceX, owner of satellite internet provider Starlink, plans to build out a US mobile service — confirming an FT report from late June.

On SpaceX’s earnings call on Tuesday, Musk said Starlink’s terrestrial cellular network would “probably” have better connectivity and “higher bandwidth than what is currently available from cellular providers”. 

Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said she anticipated being able to “acquire quite a few” customers from the big three US mobile network operators — AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.

SpaceX would launch Starlink Mobile satellites next year and planned to begin its service at the end of 2027, Shotwell added.

Gopalan said he believed satellite technology would remain “complementary” to existing networks. To date, SpaceX has granted telecoms groups, including T-Mobile, access to its satellites to supplement their existing network coverage in rural areas.

T-Mobile’s chief refused to comment on reports that the company has been in talks with its majority owner Deutsche Telekom over a mega-merger that would value the combined company at an estimated $267bn.

“Look, there’s nothing much to say . . . we don’t comment on speculation,” he said, adding that the noise around the situation had not distracted the business.

A person familiar with the matter said T-Mobile’s executives and minority investors had concerns about the proposed deal.

Gopalan, who was promoted to chief executive last November, has sought to reassure analysts and investors that T-Mobile still has significant room to grow after years of strong customer gains.

The T-Mobile boss said its low prices had “stopped AT&T and Verizon from ripping people off” during the 2010s. A 2020 merger with rival Sprint gave the company the firepower to invest in a series of network upgrades. 

Following the tie-up, the Seattle-based group grew its post-paid mobile customer base from 66.6mn in 2020 to 85.6mn in 2025. However, its shares have declined about 25 per cent over the past year amid a fightback from rivals AT&T and Verizon. 

“I think the most misunderstood thing from an investor perspective is just the amount of growth left in this business . . . And I think we’re ridiculously undervalued right now,” said Gopalan.


Gopalan said he aimed to more than double T-Mobile’s broadband customer base to 20mn in the next four years. The T-Mobile boss also wanted to increase the company’s market share in rural areas, which he said stood at 24 per cent.

Gopalan is targeting the 20mn “families and businesses” in the US who chose their mobile provider based on network quality.

David Barden, partner at New Street Research, said T-Mobile had “forged a premium position” in mobile broadband “against all odds” and that the company has a long runway for growth.

FT : Billionaire’s financial data group Ion chased by landlords for overdue rent

Billionaire’s financial data group Ion chased by landlords for overdue rent
Group behind Dealogic and Mergermarket made late payments on offices in Sydney, Munich and Connecticut

Billionaire Andrea Pignataro’s financial technology group Ion missed rent payments on offices in three continents this year, prompting landlords to cut off access or threaten the heavily indebted company with eviction.

Employees at Ion’s Sydney office this year arrived at the city’s second-tallest tower to find an eviction notice for late payment of about $90,000, people familiar with the matter said.

Ion’s staff in Munich were denied access to their office for weeks last month after about $40,000 in rent was not paid on time. In Connecticut, the group’s landlord sued in May, alleging that one of Ion’s subsidiaries had failed to pay its rent in March and did not move out of the premises when asked.

The amounts due on the Sydney and Munich sites have now been paid, a person familiar with the situation said, and legal proceedings in Connecticut were withdrawn last month.

Ion’s failure to meet payment obligations on time comes as the group’s $10bn debt burden and questions over the impact of new AI tools on its software business have come under increasing scrutiny from investors.

Ion, which owns financial data companies including Mergermarket, Fidessa and Dealogic, grew rapidly through a series of acquisitions financed by cheap debt during the era of ultra-low interest rates, and now generates about $400mn of earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation each quarter.

That growth has made Pignataro one of Italy’s richest men and one of the largest players in Europe’s market for junk debt.

But a sell-off in Ion’s publicly traded debt has accelerated this year, and Ion’s financing costs have more than doubled since 2022 to about $800mn a year as central banks have raised interest rates, according to financial information seen by the FT.

The price of a $1.5bn bond issued by Ion Platform Investment Group trades at 80 cents on the dollar, down from about 96 cents in mid-January. The price drop means that some of Ion’s debt now comes with a yield of more than 12 per cent.

On top of its publicly traded debt, Ion’s holding company has another $2.5bn of private debt from investors including BlackRock-owned private credit firm HPS.

Ion has more than 50 offices around the world, employing more than 13,000 people. Its flagship site in London overlooks St Paul’s Cathedral, while its Sydney office is located on the 28th floor of the city’s Salesforce Tower, the second-tallest skyscraper in Sydney.

Ion said that “across a real estate footprint of that size, commercial disagreements with landlords arise from time to time in the ordinary course of business, and they are resolved in the ordinary course of business. That is what has happened here.”

It added that “the matters in question have been resolved, no amounts are outstanding, and the sums concerned represent a fraction of one 100th of one per cent of the group’s annual earnings . . . Any suggestion that these matters bear on the group’s financial position is unsupported by the facts.”

FT : Naval parts supplier Goodwin explores sale of defence business London-liste

Naval parts supplier Goodwin explores sale of defence business
London-listed supplier to UK and US nuclear submarines has received bids from buyout firms

Goodwin, the 143-year-old British component supplier for the Dreadnought next-generation nuclear deterrent submarines, is in talks to sell its defence business.

Several buyout firms that have records in defence have submitted expressions of interest to the London-listed engineer in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.

Stoke-on-Trent-based Goodwin, which is half-owned by the eponymous founding family, has a market capitalisation of about £1.4bn. The FTSE 250 company’s shares are down about 14 per cent so far this year after it missed out on radar antenna and transceiver orders and faced delays in valve orders amid the tension in the Middle East.

The company is a key supplier to several UK and US Navy frigate and submarine programmes, and Goodwin Steel Castings and Goodwin International, which are part of the group’s mechanical engineering division, have benefited from increased defence spending, according to its annual report.

The British firm makes components for the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarines, including the Astute boats as well as the Dreadnought-class vessels which will carry Trident nuclear missiles. It also supplies America’s Virginia and Columbia-class submarines, as well as the country’s DDG frigates and the Gerald R Ford-class aircraft carrier, according to the report.

Given the sensitivities of such military assets, any transaction and buyer could be scrutinised by British and US authorities to ensure no risks to national security.

The defence sector accounted for 57 per cent of Goodwin’s order book of £287mn, with other commissions coming from nuclear, mining, oil and gas and petrochemicals industries, the report shows. The UK accounted for 29 per cent of the external revenue and the US 16 per cent. Goodwin last year announced a collaboration agreement with US defence company Northrop Grumman.

Governments have stepped up military spending in the face of recent conflicts, in particular the wars in Ukraine and Iran, which have triggered rising transactions in the industry as big defence companies buy smaller suppliers and military start-ups.

The total value of global defence-related deals, including mergers and acquisitions and fundraisings, has already topped $40bn this year, putting it on track to smash the previous full-year record of $59bn in 2019, according to data compiled by Dealogic in late July. Deals involving companies with maritime capabilities have particularly seen an uptick.

If the Goodwin defence unit is acquired by a US buyer, it would mark the latest military asset with British roots to be sold to an American. Lockheed Martin outbid rivals last month to buy naval technology group Ultra Maritime for $3.45bn.

Goodwin declined to comment.

Goodwin, which traces its roots to a family partnership of iron founders in 1883, also has a refractory engineering business that does casting for iron, steel and nickel alloy. The firm supplies sectors including aerospace, automotive, construction, fire protection, jewellery, mining and oil and gas.

FT : ByteDance targets mega AI model nearing Anthropic’s Mythos TikTok owner tra

ByteDance targets mega AI model nearing Anthropic’s Mythos
TikTok owner training a model three times larger than Moonshot’s Kimi K3

ByteDance is training an AI model that could approach the size of Anthropic’s most cutting-edge Mythos system, as Chinese companies continue to narrow the gap with the top US labs.

The Chinese tech giant is at an early stage of training a model with as many as 10tn parameters — three times larger than Moonshot’s Kimi K3, the biggest Chinese model released to date, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

The ByteDance model is being pre-trained — a stage that typically takes three to six months — before it is fine-tuned and released if all goes well, one of the people said. The exact model size would only be determined at a later stage.

Anthropic doesn’t disclose the size of its models, but industry estimates say its most advanced Mythos 5 has about 8tn parameters and Fable 5 about 5tn. While parameter count sets the fundamental capacity or memory limits for the models to store information, actual capability also depends on other factors such as data quality and training methods.

ByteDance’s efforts to train one of the world’s largest AI models show Chinese labs’ ambition to not only catch up but outperform their US peers in the most advanced level of AI.

In the past weeks alone, Chinese models from Moonshot and Alibaba show strong performance on benchmarks, lagging behind only Anthropic’s Fable 5 in certain areas. Mythos 5, Anthropic’s most advanced model, is only available to approved organisations after a temporary ban in June due to security concerns.

Industry insiders say multiple Chinese labs are in the process of training models of the size of Fable 5, while ByteDance is currently the most ambitious in pushing for the largest.

ByteDance, the parent of viral video platform TikTok, has kept a low profile in its AI development as its models are mostly closed, unlike many of its Chinese peers. Its latest SeeDance model ranks among the most advanced globally in video generation, while its flagship consumer-facing model Doubao is the most popular in China with 324mn monthly active users.

Over the past three years, ByteDance has invested in AI more aggressively than any of the other Chinese tech giants, building out its network of data centres and hiring researchers. It has doubled down on its cloud unit, Volcano Engine, which sells AI solutions to enterprises. ByteDance also has ambitions to develop custom AI chips.

Seed, its model development team led by former Google DeepMind scientist Wu Yonghui, has about 2,000 members in China and overseas. The team includes core researchers, infrastructure engineers, a data labelling team and translators.

Its model development has also implemented a more independent approach that does not involve “distilling” existing models from other labs, according to one of the people. This approach has been in place for more than a year, which some believe has led to its slower development versus rivals.

Model distillation is the process of compressing a large, complex AI model into a smaller, faster one by training the smaller model to copy the knowledge and outputs of the larger teacher.

ByteDance’s management, led by founder Zhang Yiming, believes only independent development can result in a model that outperforms rivals.

Zhang reiterated his stance in an internal meeting two weeks ago, where he told the Seed team to target “world-leading model capabilities” in the long run without getting too worried about falling behind in the near term, according to the person.

Chinese media Latepost and The Information first reported Zhang’s comments from the recent internal meeting.

ByteDance did not respond to a request for comment.

TechCrunch : Defense tech Hadrian raises $1.37B at $8B valuation Defense tech Ha

Defense tech Hadrian raises $1.37B at $8B valuation

Defense tech Hadrian announced on Thursday that it had raised a fresh $1.37 billion round at a valuation of $7.87 billion from a mile-long list of well-known investors.

The lead investors in the round include WCM Investment Management, Washington Harbour Partners, Valor Equity Partners, 137 Ventures, and Baillie Gifford. Participating investors include 1789 Capital, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, funds managed by Apollo and T. Rowe Price, as well as firms like CapitalG, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Altimeter, and others.

Founders Fund and Lux led the company’s $260 million Series C financing about a year ago, bringing the total raised to date to around $2 billion, according to PitchBook estimates.

Hadrian is an interesting defense tech in that it’s not trying to build new AI-powered weapons. The company is building automated manufacturing facilities that will mass-produce parts for the vehicles that the military complex already relies on.

For instance, in March, Hadrian opened a facility in Alabama to mass-produce parts for submarines, making that its fourth facility. The deal for that facility, structured as a public/private partnership, was valued at $2.4 billion, Hadrian said.

>>> US After Hours Summary: TEAM +32.7%, QNST +24.9%, PUBM +21.6%, INDI +20.7%,

After Hours Summary: TEAM +32.7%, QNST +24.9%, PUBM +21.6%, INDI +20.7%, TWLO +16.5%, FROG +16% higher on earnings; SEZL -28.3%, TTD -24.9%, QDEL -21.6%, SG -15% lower on earnings

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: DOCS +80.8%, VATE +40.9%, TEAM +32.7%, FIGS +25.2% (also buyback auth increased by $100 mln), QNST +24.9%, PUBM +21.6% (also CFO to retire), INDI +20.7%, FRD +19.4%, MTW +18.7%, MITK +17.8%, NET +17.6%, FNKO +17.4%, TWLO +16.5%, FROG +16%, CRSR +15.9%, NTRA +15.4%, WLDN +15.2%, RCEL +14.7%, INOD +14.3% (also also CEO to become Executive Chairman, names new CEO; also files mixed shelf offering), DV +13.5% (also Nielsen to acquire DoubleVerify for $13.60/sh), TLSI +12.9%, AKAM +12.2%, ONTO +11.6%, VSTM +11.5%, PRAA +11%, ABNB +10.9%, PSIX +10.9%, GEVO +10.4%, SPT +10%, CART +9%, MCHP +8.3%, REAL +7.3%, JHX +7.2%, CLAR +6.8%, OMDA +6.3%, AMPH +6%, KRMN +5.9%, HALO +5.8% (also authorizes $1 bln buyback program), ARLO +5.4%, ONL +5.4%, CARG +5.3%, BMRN +5%, OFRM +4.3%, NTGR +4.1%, SENS +3.9%, EGY +3.7%, PK +3.6%, CYRX +3.3%, LION +3.2%, CLSK +2.8%, NOG +2.8%, XENE +2.6%, ASTH +2.5%, AHR +2.4%, GMED +2.4%, ESE +2.1%, IRTC +2.1% (also to acquire VitalConnect), AORT +2.1%, YELP +2%, ABX +1.9%, PDFS +1.8%, OABI +1.8%, ALRM +1.3%, CENX +1.3%, PRDO +1.3% (also increases dividend), KGS +1.2%, RHP +1%, SYNA +0.9%, TNDM +0.9%, TXRH +0.9%, SVV +0.8% (also launches ThriftIQ), ZD +0.8%, MARA +0.7%, CYTK +0.5%, ICUI +0.4%, LYFT +0.2%, ROKU +0.1%, WEST +0.1%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: XE +4% (AMZN discloses new stake in XE), SLF +1.7% (announces Chair succession), FSLY +1.6% (files mixed securities shelf offering), MDA +1.2% (responds to Canadian Space Agency), ALGT +1.1% (AMZN discloses new stake in ALGT), ACRS +0.5% (FDA Fast Track for modzatinib; also files mixed shelf offering), SUN +0.2% (to acquire Offen Petroleum for about $600 mln), YOU +0.2% (launches corporate travel membership program)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: CVRX -37.5%, SEZL -28.3%, HCAT -26.4%, TTD -24.9%, ARDX -22.5%, QDEL -21.6%, ORGO -18.7%, PGNY -16%, SG -15%, LASR -14.8%, BLND -12.8%, SERV -12.5%, XPOF -11.9%, WEAV -11.4%, NATR -9.9% (also names new CFO), SVCO -9.6%, IIIV -9.2%, INGN -8.9%, CRNC -8.8%, OUST -8.4%, AIP -8.3%, MRVI -7.2%, APYX -6.5%, MATW -6%, CABO -5.6%, BETR -5.6%, AMRZ -5.2%, RGTI -4.9%, TXG -4.7%, POST -4.6%, NGVC -4.5%, AVPT -4.3%, RLMD -4.3%, SARO -4%, RCAT -3.9%, PCT -3.9%, MNR -3.8%, RMD -3.7% (also increases dividend), RKT -3.4%, ASLE -3.4%, DKNG -3.1%, AGO -2.8%, RLAY -2.5%, GRND -2.2%, CLNE -2.1%, AFL -1.8%, IAG -1.2%, FIVN -1.1%, WPM -1%, AAOI -0.7%, XRAY -0.7%, CWST -0.5%, NAVI -0.4%, BTG -0.2%, MP -0.2%, RSG -0.2% (also increases dividend)

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: HCAT -29% (completes Vitalware sale to Med-Metrix), REPL -8.2% (wins FDA accelerated approval for TUDRIQEV), SLDB -5.3% (files mixed securities shelf offering), INVX -1.5% (offering of 5M common shares by selling stockholders), PPTA -1.4% (reports new high-grade gold and antimony discoveries and a new gold-tungsten zone at Stibnite), DFTX -1.3% (Phase 3 depression trial results for DT120 ODT, bolstered by $1.1 bln cash position), LXRX -1.3% (stock offering by selling shareholders), ARTV -1.3% (files for $400 mln mixed securities shelf offering), COLD -0.5% (files mixed securities shelf offering), CAMP -0.3% (stock offerings by selling shareholders)

FT : AI creates first synthetic viruses

AI creates first synthetic viruses
Genomic language model has huge potential to redesign organisms such as bacteria

Scientists in the US have for the first time used artificial intelligence to create viruses unknown in nature, a milestone in synthetic biology that promises advances in healthcare but also raises important biosafety and biosecurity concerns.

Stanford University researchers developed a generative AI programme called Evo 2 that writes new genomes — the genetic instructions for life encoded in DNA. They used it to design and make 16 synthetic phages, small viruses that infect bacteria.

Phages are sometimes used instead of antibiotic drugs to kill bacteria causing disease.

When tested in their secure lab, the researchers found that these novel phages were more effective at killing the common microbe E. coli than the natural phage ΦX174, which served as a template for Evo 2 to work on. The results were published on Thursday in the journal Science.

“Our study is a proof of concept showing for the first time that generative design can generate entire functional genomes,” said Brian Hie, the project leader. “We chose to work with phages because they are small viruses, well studied and have broad applications in molecular biology and therapeutics.”

The approach could be extended later to larger organisms such as bacteria and then to more complex forms of life, he added.

“The importance of Brian Hie’s landmark paper cannot be overstated,” said Adrian Woolfson, a genomics expert who is chief executive of the DNA synthesis company Genyro. “It is biology’s Wright Brothers moment, where we stop looking over our shoulder at the entities that evolution has created . . . and are confronted with the vast expanses of future biological possibility.”

Phage therapy has been used in eastern Europe for many decades. Specific phages are matched to the patient’s precise bacterial strain and delivered by topical application, injection or orally to the infection site. It is not widely applied in the West for several reasons, including the complex procedures required and the potential for bacteria to evolve resistance.

AI could help lead to a revival of phage therapy, said Samuel King, another member of the Stanford team. “With more evidence coming out on the emergence of scary antibiotic-resistant pathogens, we will need innovative alternative solutions — and phage therapy is certainly one.”

For safety, the initial Stanford study was based on a non-pathogenic strain of E. coli and used a genomic language model that was not trained on viruses capable of infecting the more complex cells that make up animals and plants. However, the technology could in future encompass a much wider range of viruses and extend to designing entirely new organisms without having to start from a natural genome.

Evo 2 is open source, available for anyone to download free of charge to design new genomes themselves.

“We don’t have plans right now to commercialise this work,” said Hie. “We’re an academic lab funded by philanthropy and government grants. It is our responsibility to put the basic technology out there for use by as many people as possible because of the vast potential benefits to health and humanity.”

Those benefits outweigh the risk that bad actors could modify the AI tool for bioterrorist purposes, Hie maintained. But Thomas Inglesby and Moritz Hanke, of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, warned in the same issue of Science that the study “raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions”.

While praising the Stanford scientists for the precautions they took in their research, Inglesby and Hanke said: “Existing governance frameworks are insufficient for overseeing generative genomics . . . The question is no longer whether generative viral genome design will exist. It is whether society can build oversight that allows its benefits to unfold while preventing it from enabling serious harm.”