# Startup fights AI bioweapons with AI defense

> Radical Numerics launches Omnii Defense to detect natural and engineered pathogens using AI, as frontier labs warn their technology could enable dangerous bioweapons.
- Title: Startup fights AI bioweapons with AI defense · WIRED
- Summary: Radical Numerics launches Omnii Defense to detect natural and engineered pathogens using AI, as frontier labs warn their technology could enable dangerous…
- Keywords: radical numerics, omnii defense, ai bioweapons, biosecurity, pathogen detection, eric nguyen, WIRED
- Source: WIRED — https://wired.com/story/startup-fights-ai-bioweapons-with-ai
- Author: Emily Mullin
- Published: 2026-11-11T17:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: radical numerics, omnii defense, ai bioweapons, biosecurity, pathogen detection, eric nguyen
## Frontier labs warn of AI bioweapon risk
Frontier AI labs have warned that their technology could help develop dangerous bioweapons. Now a startup is building a defense against that threat.
## Radical Numerics launches Omnii Defense
On Wednesday, Radical Numerics announced Omnii Defense, an edge model designed to flag natural and AI-engineered pathogens using a laptop and USB gene sequencer. It runs without internet connection.
## Cofounder sees coming biodefense arms race
Eric Nguyen, cofounder and CEO of Radical Numerics, says he sees a coming arms race in biodefense similar to cybersecurity, where threat actors and defenders leverage AI.

> We felt that the biosecurity space was far behind on the defense side.
## How Omnii Defense assigns threat scores
Omnii Defense makes multiple predictions about a sequence, including odds of it being pathogenic or AI-generated. It assigns a genome a threat score between zero and one combining unnaturalness with functional predictions.
## AI models outperform older detection tools
Earlier biodefense tools like Felix compare sequences against libraries of known organisms. AI models learn patterns in sequences associated with biological function, recognizing similarities even when genetic spelling changes.
## Detection alone is not enough
Bronwyn MacInnis, director of pathogen surveillance at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, cautions that detecting a signal is still a big leap from determining whether a pathogen has real consequence or was engineered.
## Key takeaway

Radical Numerics announced Omnii Defense, an AI model designed to flag natural and AI-engineered pathogens on a laptop with a USB gene sequencer, addressing concerns that frontier AI labs could help develop bioweapons.