Violet Teaming AI in the Life Sciences

As modern life science research shifts from an observational field of science to a field of engineering biology, computational techniques are more relevant to every aspect of the field. Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a massive accelerator of biological engineering for its ability to learn the design paradigms of life (DPoL) and understand the genotype-to-phenotype (G2P) relationships of organisms. The reception has been mixed, however, as opportunities across health, energy, environment, agriculture, and industrial materials are confronted with emerging biosecurity risks across novel pathogens of concern and operational knowledge of biological engineering. There is an urgent need for research to be conducted at the intersection of AI security and biosecurity and the establishment of a violet teaming paradigm where research focused on risk is paired with those focused on the opportunity to minimize the downside and maximize the upside provided by AI in the life sciences.

Titus, A.J. (2023). Violet Teaming AI in the Life Sciences. Zenodo. https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.8180395.

The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence – Violet Teaming Offers a Balanced Path Forward

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises immense benefits across sectors, yet also poses risks from dual-use potentials, biases, and unintended behaviors. This paper reviews emerging issues with opaque and uncontrollable AI systems and proposes an integrative framework called violet teaming to develop reliable and responsible AI. Violet teaming combines adversarial vulnerability probing (red teaming) with solutions for safety and security (blue teaming) while prioritizing ethics and social benefit. It emerged from AI safety research to manage risks proactively by design. The paper traces the evolution of red, blue, and purple teaming toward violet teaming, and then discusses applying violet techniques to address biosecurity risks of AI in biotechnology. Additional sections review key perspectives across law, ethics, cybersecurity, macrostrategy, and industry best practices essential for operationalizing responsible AI through holistic technical and social considerations. Violet teaming provides both philosophy and method for steering AI trajectories toward societal good. With conscience and wisdom, the extraordinary capabilities of AI can enrich humanity. But without adequate precaution, the risks could prove catastrophic. Violet teaming aims to empower moral technology for the common welfare.

Titus, A.J., & Russell, A.H. (2023). The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence–Violet Teaming Offers a Balanced Path Forward. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2308.14253.