(COGwriter directed illustration)
Dangers of AI have remained in the news. Some are overstated, some impossible, and some are real.
Here is something related to a real one:
Gautam Mukunda: AI’s greatest threat is biological, not robotic
September 18, 2026
Anthropic PBC researcher Jacob Coxon quit last week and posted on social media that it was because “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” Evan Hubinger, who leads the artificial intelligence company’s alignment science team, put the odds above 10% in the next 10 years. Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in the AI frontier to help mitigate the risks, an idea echoed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk. You might be imagining doom from killer robots with thick Austrian accents. But the greatest risk comes from cells, not steel. An Institute for Security and Technology survey of 111 national security practitioners found that 70% believe AI meaningfully increases – or soon will -bioweapon risk. Imagine an AI-aided researcher inserting an immune-signaling gene into a poxvirus that suppresses the immune response so thoroughly it kills every unvaccinated animal it infects and most who are immunized. https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/us-viewpoints/article317291683.html#storylink=cpy
Notice something from last month:
AI creates 16 new viruses that never existed in nature after learning DNA’s pattern from 9 trillion nucleot…
August 8, 2026
An AI model has just created new viruses that never existed in nature. According to a New York Times report, researchers trained a genomic AI model to design complete DNA sequences for viruses, then chemically built the results and watched some come to life. Of 285 AI-generated viral genomes tested, 16 successfully assembled into functioning viruses capable of infecting bacteria and reproducing.
In the study, published in the journal Science, researchers at Stanford University and the Arc Institute trained genomic AI models called Evo on trillions of nucleotides — the individual building blocks of DNA found in every living organism — allowing it to learn statistical patterns in how biological DNA is arranged. Much as a language model learns which combinations of words tend to make sense, Evo learned which combinations of nucleotides tend to produce biologically meaningful sequences.
Scientists have been synthesizing viruses for decades, typically to study how they work and to test antiviral drugs and vaccines. In these projects, researchers typically use the genetic sequence of a virus that already exists to manufacture new ones. Basically, they use existing genomes — genetic sequence data that holds information on how proteins come together to form an organism — replicating and editing this data. https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/ai-creates-16-viruses-never-110000013.htmlScientists used an artificial intelligence program to create new viral genomes that are different from any known natural viruses and that targeted specific hosts, according to a new study. The development is a hopeful step toward medical advances, but it also raises concerns around the potential for misuse. …
“The ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists; the governance to safely steer it does not,” they wrote. https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/06/health/ai-viruses-bacteriophages
This is not a surprise and is dangerous.
Furthermore, even without AI, humans have been working on developing new viruses, etc. for decades.
And, as it turns out, it is usually not difficult to turn biological pathogens into weapons.
The USA certainly has dangerous biological agents from which it could do so. So, do many other nations.
Remember that Jesus Himself warned that the “signs” of the end of the age would include pestilences:
7…And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:7-8)
11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:11)
Biological warfare agents certainly can be a factor in pestilences.
Furthermore, in the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation, the ride of four horsemen are described. The passages about the fourth horseman are as follows:
7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:7-8)
So, the opening of the fourth seal is the time that the pale horse of death is apparently increasing death by war, hunger, and pestilences (the beasts of the earth).
Could humans intentionally cause some of that?
Certainly.
Bio-engineered warfare has long been a threat.
Consider also, that back in 1969, the old Worldwide Church of God published the following by the late Raymond McNair:
THE DOOMSDAY BUG
There is — this very instant — a feverish international search for the ultimate “dooms-day bug.” The purpose? — to wipe out whole nations overnight by disease germs and chemicals. Will man’s unrestrained scientific search for more horrifying weapons of mass destruction prove to be his undoing?
WHAT I have seen here at Porton Down has convinced me of the awful potential of modern Chemical and Biological Warfare (called CBW for short). Few realize its frightening possibilities! Sensational news headlines from time to time reveal details of CBW development world-wide. …
History of CBW
Chemical and Biological Warfare is not new to mankind. For thousands of years man has used various CBW agents to overcome his enemies. But… it is only recently that he has seriously considered the idea of using CBW on a grand scale — to erase whole populations! Thousands of years ago man discovered the diabolical use of poison. He learned to use poison to dispose of rulers, dignitaries, or large numbers of his enemies by poisoning their food or water supply. Poisoned arrows were also used in warfare. Millenniums ago man learned that he could throw the corpses of plague-infected humans over the walls of besieged cities which he sought to overthrow — thereby causing terrible plague to ravage the entire city. Early American settlers traded plague-infected blankets to American Indians in times of frontier hostilities. There have been virtually no limits to man’s diabolical, inventive genius in the realm of destructive weapons of war. CBW’s
Awful Potential
We can see the awful potential of rampant disease organisms by observing what did happen during the Dark Ages. The BLACK DEATH of 1348-50 was the worst natural disaster to befall man in the last 4000 years. This terrible plague swept over all Europe — killing at least one third of the population! In certain areas nearly three fourths of the population was killed by plague! Three fifths of all Britons succumbed to the Black Death — reducing Britain’s population from 5.1 million in 1348 to 2.1 million in 1374.
Many, believing they would certainly fall victims of the Black Death, gave themselves over to reckless abandon — drunkenness, sexual orgies, violence, crime and general lawlessness. “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die of plague,” they reasoned. But biological warfare is potentially much worse than plague.
Colonel Adam Mikovich of Moscow Institute understands the full potential of Biological Warfare. He said: “It is believed today that Biological War would have the greatest effect of all” (Post, Jan. 30, 1965). …
An Ounce of Doom!
Many scientists right now are searching for new plagues with which to decimate the human population. And they are diligently seeking deadlier strains of old viruses with which to destroy whole populations. Of course, these scientists justify their CBW research by saying it is done for defensive reasons. Just how lethal are these viruses? Do you grasp the deadly potential? “In theory one gram of chicken embryo tissue inoculated with the Q-fever organism would be sufficient to infect more than one million people” (We All Fall Down, Robin Clarke). It has been estimated that one fourth of an ounce would be sufficient to infect every man, woman and child living in the British Isles! That’s about 55 million! Britain is especially vulnerable to chemical or germ warfare. She is thickly crowded and normal weather conditions in Britain are favorable to that type of warfare!
Botulinus, which was developed during World War II, is so deadly that it could wipe out all human life in a given area within six hours — yet leaving the target area habitable immediately after the attack. But some diseases would have a more lingering effect. …
Few realize that far more people have died from pestilence — from sickness and various plagues — through the course of human history, than have died in actual warfare.
It has been estimated that over 20,000,000 perished from influenza in just a few months at the close of World War I — and 50 times that number became ill. In the autumn of 1918, over 12,500,000 died in the flu epidemic which swept the undernourished nation of India. And over one-half million died in the United States. …
Destroying the Economy
Another terrifying aspect of CBW is that an enemy nation could destroy the economy of a nation — before actually attacking its civilians. This could be done by first attacking some of the main crops of the intended victim nation.
In 1942, 90 percent of India’s rice crop was destroyed by a natural strain of rice fungus.And the highest award ever given to a U.S. civilian was awarded to a woman for developing another very deadly type of rice-blast fungus — which could, of course, be used against rice-eating nations like China or North Vietnam.
A Russian scientist has reportedly discovered a very deadly wheat rust — a type to which America’s wheat would be especially susceptible.
Thus, one can see how an enemy could greatly undermine the economy of a nation by first destroying the main crops through bacteriological warfare.
As a further example of the effects of this type of warfare, consider the terrible economic effects which the Irish potato famine of the mid-1800’s had on Ireland. That particular potato famine was caused by a peculiar potato blight or fungus which completely wiped out Ireland’s potato crop!
Previous to the famine, Ireland was one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. Yet it was a country stricken with the most unbelievable poverty. “There never was,” said the Duke of Wellington, a native of County Meath, “a country in which poverty existed to the extent that exists in Ireland.” “Nearly half of the families of the rural population,” reported the 1841 census, “are living in houses of the lowest state” — windowless mud cabins of a single room. …
CBW weapons are cheap to manufacture, and are comparatively inexpensive to deliver to enemy targets. A small nation could develop a whole arsenal of CBW agents and deliver them with very little strain on its budget. …
Scientists must bear their full share of responsibility for their part in developing more deadly and virulent microbes which could unleash horrifying disease epidemics upon this world.
But where does this leave us? Will scientists cease their horrifying work? Hardly.
It leaves us precisely where the world’s most noted newscaster — Jesus Christ — said it would leave us! Speaking of our very day, he warned: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved [alive]: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matt. 24:21, 22).
But how?
The Only Solution
Make no mistake about it — man does not have the solution to his ever-accelerating arms-race problem. But God does!
We can be very thankful that the God of the universe is about to put an end to man’s hellish insanity toward his fellowman. His government will “rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they LEARN WAR any more” (Micah 4:3).
Mercifully, God Almighty will not let man destroy himself! If God didn’t keep His hand firmly on the controls, man would annihilate himself.
We can rejoice that total disarmament is very near. The day is soon coming when the nations will close down all of their chemical and biological establishments — and their munitions factories!
Then all of man’s scientific efforts will be directed toward construction — not Destruction. Toward saving lives — not destroying them! (McNair R. The Doomsday Bug. Plain Truth, August 1969)
So, yes, the old WCG was right that humans would continue to look into developing pestilences. And yes, the solution will be God’s intervention, and the establishment of the coming Kingdom of God.
That is good news.
However, before then, more pestilences are coming (Revelation 6:7-8).
In January of 2020, we put out the following video:
Biological Warfare and Prophecy
Is biological warfare possible? Was it prophesied? Scientists have long warned that pathogenic organisms like the coronavirus could be weaponized. Furthermore, back in 2017, there were concerns that the biological research facility being constructed in Wuhan, China was risky and that a coronavirus from it could be released. On January 25, 2020, China’s President Xi Jinping publicly stated that the situation with the Wuhan-related strain of the coronavirus was grave. Did Church of God writers like the late evangelist Raymond McNair warn that engineered viruses (the “Doomsday bug”) were consistent with prophecies from Jesus? Did a warning from CCOG leader Bob Thiel warn about risks of genetically-modified (GMO) mosquitoes come to pass? Could human research and/or the consumption of biblically-unclean animals such as bats and snakes be a factor in current outbreaks or coming future pestilences? What about famines? How devastating have pestilences been? How devastating are the prophesied ones going to be? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.
Here is a link to our video: Biological Warfare and Prophecy.
While all humanity will not be killed by AI (cf. Matthew 24:21-22), pestilences will come. Plus there are other risks.
One is that AI programs will be able to break into financial and other systems and perhaps drain money from account. As the finance has become more digital, that is a major economic threat.
Therefore, might a leader, in a place like Europe, propose some type of biometric system to prevent AI economic to “protect” the citizenry?
Might he propose some type of a mark on the right hand or forehead to allow for “safer” buying and selling?
Well, the Bible warns about a coming totalitarian system that will do that:
15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Revelation 13:15-18)
We are getting closer to that day, with technologies unheard of when God inspired John to warn what would happen–like computers and AI–that the totalitarian Beast of Revelation will be able use to assist his 666 reign as well as enforce the coming ‘famine of the word’ of God (Amos 8:11-12).
The Bible warns:
3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
Yes, I believe that the coming 666 Beast will declare his system–which I believe will involve AI–will bring peace and safety.
And yes, that may be part of the claimed benefits for the coming “mark of the Beast”–which is something that the Bible repeatedly warns against and will punish people for accepting per Revelation 16:2.
Biological pathogens developed by humans are a real threat. And with AI involvement, it can be faster and perhaps much worse.
More surveillance and financial controls are prophesied to come. AI will be involved.
Do NOT let those who will push the mark of the Beast persuade you otherwise.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Mark of the Beast What is the mark of the Beast? Who is the Beast? What have various ones claimed the mark is? What is the ‘Mark of the Beast’?
The Mark of Antichrist What is the mark of Antichrist? What have various ones claimed? Here is a link to a related sermon What is the ‘Mark of Antichrist’?
Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilences? What will it bring and when? Here is a link to a related sermon: Fourth Horseman, COVID, and the Rise of the Beast of Revelation. Here is a version of that sermon in Spanish: El Cuarto Caballo, El COVID y El Surgimiento de la Bestia del Apocalipsis. Some shorter related videos may include Amphibian Apocalypse: Threat to Humans? and Zombie Deer Disease is Here! Are the 10 Plagues on Egypt Coming? Here is a version of the article in Spanish: El cuarto jinete de Apocalipsis, el caballo pálido de muerte y pestilencia.