[terribleperson]

You can, right now, find out how to synthesize VX or sarin, or how to weaponize anthrax. You can and have been able to acquire this knowledge without the use of AI. Knowledge is not the obstacle to proliferation of biological and chemical weapons. It's hard to set up the infrastructure. See Aum Shinrikyo.

[slg]

If you believe that AI is powerful enough to help the good people (however you define that), why isn't that also coupled with the belief that it is powerful enough to help the bad people (ditto)? Either the capability of this tech is completely overblown or it can help a wide swath of people including those with conflicting ideologies.

[terribleperson]

I absolutely believe that AI can be used by bad people in harmful ways. I don't think that's going to take the form of mass murder. I don't think knowledge is the missing component there.

[kortilla]

But the difference is AI made it easier for dumb radicals to discover this AND it will walk you through the infrastructure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/us/politics/ai-terrorism-...

[warshinder]

Well, you’ve convinced me. Ai changes nothing, so then we should be terrified of the capital being poured into and the opportunity costs lost to the current thing(tm).

[terribleperson]

AI changes lots of things, and many for the worse. The idea that it's going to enable terrorists to perform biological warfare isn't credible.