AI CEOs sign letter urging Congress biosecurity screening

Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, and Mustafa Suleyman put aside their rivalry to sign a public letter to Congress. The letter urges mandatory screening and record-keeping for companies selling synthetic DNA and RNA, arguing AI is lowering the barriers for biological

The names on the letter were meant to cancel each other out—until they didn’t.

Dario Amodei of Anthropic. Sam Altman of OpenAI. and Mustafa Suleyman of Microsoft AI signed a public appeal to Congress. urging lawmakers to tighten safeguards around the buying and selling of synthetic DNA and RNA. The letter is backed not only by dozens of experts from life sciences and national security. but also organized through the conservative-leaning Foundation for American Innovation and the nonpartisan Institute for Progress.

The request is specific and hard to shrug off. Congress is asked to mandate screening for companies selling synthetic DNA and RNA, with the letter’s authors arguing that such materials could be used to create bioweapons with help from AI.

This is not a purely outsider alarm. Companies that manufacture these materials—including Twist Bioscience and Ansa Biotechnologies—also signed the letter, signaling that at least part of the industry is open to regulation.

“AI systems are improving rapidly, and alongside incredible benefits to science and medicine, there is a real possibility that the knowledge barriers which have historically prevented bad actors from obtaining biological weapons will meaningfully erode,” the letter said.

Companies already do some screening voluntarily, the letter acknowledges through its own push for stronger rules. But it wants Congress to make screening legally required across the industry. It also asks lawmakers to require companies selling synthetic materials to keep records on orders and the exact specifications of what is sold—steps framed as necessary to support potential biosecurity investigations.

The push arrives as AI capabilities spread faster and farther than many earlier warnings anticipated. A study by Stanford University earlier this year found generative AI tools reached 53% of the world’s population in just three years. faster than both the PC or the internet. At the same time. experts have found that publicly available AI models can provide information on how to create biological weapons and how to spread them.

For lawmakers, the central question is whether the safeguards that exist today are moving quickly enough.

The threat itself has long been difficult to see. The government has recognized the need to protect against deadly biological weapons for years. Biological agents have rarely been used in terrorist attacks—accounting for just 0.02% of all historical attacks. according to a study in the peer-reviewed publication The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Yet they pose a different kind of danger to Americans: they can be odorless. colorless. and. in some cases. highly contagious.

Anthrax is often cited as the most unforgiving example. When inhaled, it has a mortality rate of nearly 100% without treatment. In 2001. after a microbiologist and former employee of the Army’s biodefense laboratory mailed several Anthrax-laced letters addressed to two U.S. senators and several news outlets, five people died and another 22 were infected. The attacks came just after 9/11 and triggered one of the largest FBI investigations ever.

Law is already on the books, but the letter argues the problem is shifting.

The Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 made it illegal to develop or possess biological agents for use as a weapon. with a potential penalty of up to life in prison. After the 2001 anthrax attacks. the PATRIOT Act expanded on the 1989 law. making it easier to prosecute people in possession of dangerous biological agents even without explicit proof that they intended to build a weapon.

Congress, meanwhile, has also already moved on the specific issue of synthetic DNA and RNA.

In February, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced the Biosecurity Modernization and Innovation Act of 2026. The bill aims to force sellers of these synthetic materials to screen both their orders and their customers while providing exemptions for “clearly non-hazardous and pose no credible threat to public health and safety.”.

As the bill slowly works its way through Congress, the letter is being positioned as a chance to align the people who build and supply the underlying tools.

Josh Wentzel, a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, told Fortune that the letter offered a “good opportunity” to show lawmakers that the AI industry and companies selling synthetic DNA and RNA were equally concerned about the issue.

“This is bipartisan. concrete. achievable. and noncontroversial. ” Wentzel said. adding he hopes that now Congress sees these parties aligned. it can move forward with passing the Biosecurity Modernization and Innovation Act. “It’s a goal among many national security experts and. crucially. something the nucleic acid synthesis industry itself has called for.”.

What sits underneath the moment is a collision of two realities: AI models are reaching people quickly. and the same tools that can accelerate medical progress can also help lower barriers for harmful intent. The letter’s strategy is to close the gap where sellers have control—by pushing screening and record-keeping into the law before the threat is any easier to act on.

AI CEOs Congress biosecurity synthetic DNA synthetic RNA Anthropic OpenAI Microsoft AI Foundation for American Innovation Institute for Progress Biosecurity Modernization and Innovation Act of 2026 Twist Bioscience Ansa Biotechnologies Anthrax