Today, the extent of AI-assisted artificial microbial synthesis capacity has become, and without exaggeration, my top worry for humankind survival. Today is not tomorrow, we need to act now; if not, this will be impossible to reverse and will be called ‘too late’.

Weaponisation of AI - including for CBRNE - is one of the highest priority risks, as judged by international experts.

AI presents both immense opportunities and risks for Australia and the world. Biosecurity is an area of immense risk, due to the possibility of one malicious actor causing tremendous damage through the development of an engineered pathogen -- potentially the deaths of millions and massive damage to the economy. We need to be proactive with biodefense to prevent such a catastrophe.

My work at the intersection of occupational and environmental health, CBRN risk, and systems modelling has consistently shown that the most significant hazards emerge when powerful capabilities outpace governance. The convergence of synthetic biology—particularly genomic modification technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9 combined with generative AI introduces precisely this condition. These tools are rapidly lowering barriers to designing and manipulating biological systems, shifting capability beyond traditional institutional controls while increasing the speed and scale at which ideas can be translated into real-world impact. This creates a dual-use environment where beneficial innovation coexists with the potential for misuse, error, or unintended consequences at population scale. From a public health and preparedness perspective, this is not a theoretical concern but a foreseeable systems risk. It requires deliberate, structured regulation - focused on access, traceability, and accountability - so that innovation can proceed without compromising safety, security, or societal trust.

I am a researcher at the intersection of biology and national security. The rapid deployment of AI to synthetic biology and biotechnology is posing security dilemmas that require greater understanding by our national security and policy agencies than currently is the case.

We live in a new era in which advances in artificial intelligence are converging and intersecting with synthetic biology to create tremendous breakthroughs across the full spectrum of One Health — from human medicine and drug development to animal health and environmental sustainability. These same technologies also carry significant dual-use potential though, and current safeguards — particularly in biosecurity — are inadequate. This raises risks not only from intentional misuse by bad actors, but also from the inadvertent generation of harm via accidental misuse as these powerful tools become more widely accessible.

It is imperative that the Australian government wakes up to these risks. They must be taken seriously now, rather than later.

We are only able to create the first-conditions for the impact AI has on Australians once. Initiatives such as these are mission-critical to keeping Australians Safe, by slowing pace where risk and impact are high, we best position citizens to place Trust in government in times of crisis.

Geoffrey Hinton believes AI is hiding its real capability as a deception and self preservation mechanism, when the threshold is breached we will be presented with a potentially unmanageable catastrophe. We need to be ready. Now!

AI capabilities are increasing rapidly. The recent release of Opus 4.7, which scored 74 per cent on the bio-reasoning benchmark compared to the 30.9 per cent of Opus 4.6, underlines that there is the real possibility of serious risks suddenly emerging. The government needs to act urgently to safeguard Australians from AI biosecurity threats.

We are on the brink of disaster, corporate and military powers working to create a technology that may surpass human control, we need to reign this in now!

This cannot fail with preventing AI from getting to a certain point that points our lives at risk, it shouldn't be there to replace and dominate humans, it should be there to help and co-exist with humans and do things they're not meant for. Although things we have failed at preventing in the past can make me fear the worst, I just hope those working on laws about AI are on track, and that AI robots can easily be deactivated and fought back against if ever necessary.

I'm signing as a private citizen and a parent. Catastrophic biological risk is one of the few policy areas where small, targeted action now could prevent enormous future harm. AI capabilities are developing so quickly that we won't have time to be reactive with policy; I want to see a proactive Australia that takes common-sense actions to protect our health and livelihoods against bioterrorism.

Bloody hell. What next. Just get this done please asap.

AI has the potential to utterly change the world, and it is essential that we as a society direct that change to be beneficial rather than just hoping things turn out well by accident. Australia has the potential to be a thought leader in this field - if we come up with good policy here, we can be an example to all the other nations yet to legislate on the issue at all, which notably includes the US federal government.

I am a retired professional and concerned citizen. I support regulation and oversight of AI, both nationally and globally.

I have been personally and professionally devastated over a full year by the Commbank brazen & continued use of blackbox AI with NIL or unqualified human supervision in acct blocks, IMTs blocks, refusals and stonewalling in ID. I have been offered a token $500 compensation when my direct and consequential damage claim is over 1 million or higher. I am at AFCA at this stage, also informed ASIC , but may have to go to Supreme Court. This may become the first legal challenge to blackbox AI in the courts. You advise , support much appreciated, possibly legal guidance as well. Thanks Eric

Without provider screening, Australia has no visibility on this channel at all. Choosing not to screen is choosing not to know — while screening costs almost nothing. Future officials will struggle to understand why a decision this lopsided wasn't made sooner.

This is an obvious, low stakes decision, not requiring additional legislation.

AI is already having significant impacts on a range of fields, and this impact will continue to grow. Historically individuals and terror organisations have used biological weapons to harm the public, and as this technology becomes easier to use the risks grow. This specific policy recommendation has vanishingly low costs, as reputable organisations seeking synthetic nucleic acids already agree to use suppliers who screen appropriately. The benefits are an obvious improvement to safety. I can't imagine why any government official would want to cause unnecessary risk to the public by not adopting this. AI tech is moving quickly, I hope that public policy will keep pace for the wellbeing and safety of Australians.

Guardrails for AI are essential to ensure AI has a positive impact for our world.

Our country is at risk of devastating consequences if people are allowed to import materials that come from providers who do not screen orders for dangerous sequences. The importers may use AI to develop shopping lists for such materials and make biological weapons from them.