OpenAI is endorsing three new bipartisan bills designed to prevent advanced AI from accelerating the creation of biological weapons and synthetic viruses. The move expands the company's push for legislation addressing biosecurity risks as recent research and industry disclosures show AI models being used to engineer novel pathogens.
The bills aim to improve access to the data researchers need to build AI defenses against both synthetic and naturally occurring biological threats, while also establishing standards for the safe development of those tools. Richard Johnson, OpenAI's national security risk mitigation lead, said the company's support mirrors its approach to AI cybersecurity. "We need to be worried both about the safety and the risk side, but we also need to be looking at the opportunities for getting the tools into the hands of the defenders," he said.
The three bills and what they would do
The legislation OpenAI is backing includes the Web of Biological Data Act, the AI-Ready Bio-Data Standards Act, and the SCALE Biology Act. The first two have been introduced in both the House and Senate, while the third has been introduced in the House.
Two of the bills expand the National Institute of Standards and Technology's authority over AI and biosecurity issues. The SCALE Biology Act would create a new NIST program to develop measurement standards for biological data and guidelines for securely building biotechnologies and preventing misuse. The AI-Ready Bio-Data Standards Act directs NIST to design a framework ensuring federally funded biodata is usable for AI research. Separately, the Web of Biological Data Act orders the Energy Department to establish a centralized resource for accessing biodata.
Rising concerns over AI and engineered pathogens
The endorsements arrive amid growing public concern about the destructive potential of advanced AI models. A widely-read study from Stanford University and the Arc Institute demonstrated that scientists could design 16 completely new viruses with AI assistance. Last week, Anthropic disclosed it had uncovered five cases this year of foreign actors using its models for dangerous pathogen research that could support bioweapon development.
Johnson said the data and standards addressed in the bills are essential for developing better methods of evaluating how increasingly powerful models may affect biosecurity. "We need to constantly be able to measure capabilities and risk, and then be able to compare where we are in that stage to everything else that's happening in the industry," he said.
Caitlin Frazer, executive director of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, a congressionally established body also supporting the bills, said high-quality, AI-ready biological data "must be treated like a strategic national resource."
Industry push for deliberate development pace
OpenAI's endorsements follow its earlier support for two related bills, the Biosecurity Modernization and Innovation Act and the Homestake AI Act. Earlier Tuesday, the company also said it would back a bipartisan House proposal requiring top AI companies to embed outside evaluators to verify their models are safe.
The potential biological threats from AI have intensified calls from industry leaders to slow advancement. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei cited the risks as a reason to more deliberately pace development in a high-profile essay over the weekend. Johnson said legislation would help enable AI research focused on understanding what the pace of development means for biosecurity. "We need to make sure that we're understanding what the capabilities are and make sure that we don't move so fast that we're getting ahead of our ability to know how these things could be used and what they could do," he said.
Why this matters for government and science professionals
For professionals working in government, science, and research, these bills signal a concrete shift toward standardizing how biological data is prepared and shared for AI applications. If passed, the legislation would create new NIST measurement standards and a centralized Energy Department data resource - infrastructure that researchers and policymakers will need to navigate when building or regulating AI-driven biodefense tools. The push also highlights a growing expectation that AI companies support external evaluation and federal oversight, not just internal safety work.
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