Biological weapons: The weaponization of disease

Artificial intelligence could potentially be misused to develop biological weapons. This may sound like science fiction, but scientists, security services, and international organizations are all looking at how to deal with this scenario. Pathogens can be analyzed and altered with ever greater precision thanks to ongoing developments in biotechnology. Meanwhile, AI is able to evaluate vast quantities of data at astonishing speeds.

As a result, experts are warning that, in the long term, modern technologies could also be misused to develop biological weapons. Security services are particularly concerned about this emerging threat.

Security concerns

In October 2026, Ken McCallum, head of the British domestic intelligence service MI5, warned that artificial intelligence could increase the risk from existing, or new, biological weapons – including from non-state actors. His statement underscores the growing alarm among security professionals about the convergence of these technologies.

Research challenges

A report by the American AI company Anthropic in September 2026 highlights the topicality of the debate. Anthropic said it had identified and blocked numerous attempts to use its AI assistant Claude in connection with possible biological weapon research. The report said these attempts included grant applications for so-called "gain-of-function" research, as well as projects to research avian influenza variants that were potentially the most transmissible to mammals.

At the same time, Anthropic stressed that, although such research could have a military application, it could also relate to medical prevention. The difficulty in distinguishing between legitimate science and its possible misuse is one of the biggest problems in terms of the control of modern biotechnologies.

Biological weapons basics

Biological weapons are defined by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs as the targeted release of biological substances for the purpose of injuring people, animals, or plants. They typically consist of two components: the biological agent itself (such as a virus or bacterium) and a delivery mechanism.

Unlike chemical weapons, which cause immediate injury through toxic effects, biological weapons cause infectious diseases that may take hours, days, or weeks to manifest. Some pathogens can also spread from person to person, making their effects particularly difficult to predict and control.

Biological weapons are prohibited under international law through the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which came into force in 1975 and has been ratified by 189 countries. However, unlike chemical weapons, there is no comparable inspection system for biological weapons, as states fear that inspections could expose sensitive research data.

Control difficulties

Finding biological weapons programs is much harder than controlling nuclear or chemical weapons production. Many technologies that could be used to develop biological weapons also have legitimate civilian applications, creating what experts call the "dual use" problem. The same laboratory equipment used to develop vaccines and medicines could theoretically be used for military research.

Furthermore, a biological attack can initially look like a natural disease outbreak, making it difficult to determine whether a pathogen was deliberately released or occurred naturally. This challenge was highlighted in the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, which killed five people and exposed vulnerabilities in biological security.