Microsoft’s Eric Horvitz convenes a discussion with Bruce Wittmann, Tessa Alexanian, and James Diggans about the Paraphrase Project, a coordinated red-teaming effort that targeted vulnerabilities arising from the use of Artificial Intelligence in protein design. The guests describe how the project identified a specific biosecurity weakness and took steps to secure it, illustrating a hands-on approach to the risks that can accompany powerful computational tools.
The Paraphrase Project is presented as an operational example of responsible testing and mitigation for dual-use technologies. By intentionally probing systems used for protein engineering, the team was able to reveal where misuse could occur and implement measures to reduce those risks. The discussion emphasizes the value of red-teaming as part of an overall security posture when deploying Artificial Intelligence in sensitive scientific domains.
Speakers link the project’s outcomes to broader efforts to make biological research more resilient to misuse. The episode frames the Paraphrase Project not only as a single intervention but also as a replicable model that other organizations can use to evaluate and harden their own Artificial Intelligence-driven workflows. The conversation appears as content from Microsoft Research, signaling the institution’s engagement in cross-disciplinary work on technology safety and biosecurity.
