Watermarked Proteins: Google Tackles Biosecurity Concerns with New Tech

Google has developed a system to watermark AI-designed proteins, which could help address biosecurity concerns. The technology uses a variant of Google's SynthID tech, called SynthIDBio, which adds a subtle watermark to protein sequences without compromising their function.

The watermark is randomly distributed across the entire length of the protein and detecting it requires scanning the whole sequence. To test the system, the team used it to design proteins that physically interact with natural proteins and found that the watermarked versions worked just fine.

The potential applications of this technology are significant, particularly in biosecurity. DNA synthesizers could use the watermark to quickly determine whether an unknown protein is an AI design from a trusted source, allowing them to focus their attention on evaluating potentially threatening proteins.