Author(s)

Robert B. Raffa^1,2,3,4, Joseph V. Pergolizzi Jr.^3,4,5, Thomas Miller^4,6, Daniel Motto⁴

¹School of Pharmacy (Emeritus Prof.), Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
²College of Pharmacy (Adjunct), University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
³Neumentum, Summit, NJ, USA.
⁴Enalare Therapeutics, Princeton, NJ, USA.
⁵NEMA Research, Naples, FL, USA.
⁶Sydney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Recent publications reveal the disturbing information that a minor edit to an algorithm being used for designing legitimate drug candidates redirected the program in a way that resulted in the surprising design of novel chemical warfare agent candidates. Although this outcome was not the result of nefarious intent, and appropriate chemical defense authorities were notified, the potential implications of some misapplication of a drug-design algorithm for nefarious purposes are clear. This Commentary summarizes how otherwise benign Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms used for drug discovery can be easily reversed to design novel chemical warfare agents for which no effective antidote will be available, or perhaps even envisioned.

Artificial Intelligence, Drug Discovery, Chemical Weapons, Machine Learning, Generative Model, Toxicity Prediction

Raffa, R. , Jr., J. , Miller, T. and Motto, D. (2022) Commentary: Unexpected Novel Chemical Weapon Agents Designed by Innocuous Drug-Development AI (Artificial Intelligence) Algorithm. Pharmacology & Pharmacy, 13, 225-229. doi: 10.4236/pp.2022.137018.