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Founders Pledge - IBBIS Recommendation
webCredibility Rating
3/5
Good(3)Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.
Rating inherited from publication venue: Founders Pledge
A philanthropic due diligence report from Founders Pledge relevant to AI safety researchers interested in biosecurity as a parallel existential risk domain and governance models for dual-use technology oversight.
Metadata
Importance: 55/100organizational reportanalysis
Summary
Founders Pledge evaluates and recommends IBBIS as a high-impact giving opportunity focused on reducing biosecurity risks through developing screening tools and governance frameworks for dual-use biological research. The recommendation outlines how IBBIS works to prevent misuse of biological technologies by strengthening oversight mechanisms in the scientific community.
Key Points
- •IBBIS focuses on developing and deploying nucleic acid synthesis screening to prevent dangerous pathogens from being created by bad actors.
- •The organization works at the intersection of biosecurity governance and scientific community engagement to build norms against dual-use research misuse.
- •Founders Pledge assessed IBBIS as a cost-effective intervention in a high-priority existential risk area with limited philanthropic attention.
- •The recommendation highlights biosecurity as a neglected cause area relative to its potential impact on global catastrophic risk reduction.
- •IBBIS targets a specific technical gap: ensuring DNA synthesis companies screen orders against dangerous sequences.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| IBBIS (International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science) | Organization | 60.0 |
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### Related research
[**Global Catastrophic Biological Risks: A Guide for Philanthropists** \\
Learn more](https://www.founderspledge.com/research/global-catastrophic-biological-risks-a-guide-for-philanthropists)
The [International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS)](https://ibbis.bio/) is a new international organization that works with key stakeholders around the world to develop practical tools and solutions for reducing risks — including global catastrophic risks — from bioscience and biotechnology. For its first major project, IBBIS is focusing on the international [Common Mechanism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ykml6nmXmQ) for DNA synthesis screening, to facilitate screening for misuse of DNA synthesis technology.
As explained in our report on [Global Catastrophic Biological Risks](https://www.founderspledge.com/research/global-catastrophic-biological-risks-a-guide-for-philanthropists), rapid advances in the life sciences that have the potential to yield immense benefits for humanity may also create and exacerbate risks. These technologies are also proliferating rapidly, and costs have declined dramatically in recent years and are predicted to continue declining:
**Source**: Author’s diagram using [NHGRI data](https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/DNA-Sequencing-Costs-Data), [2026 Metaculus Forecast](https://www.metaculus.com/questions/8909/human-genome-sequencing-cost-in-2026/), and [2031 Metaculus Forecast](https://www.metaculus.com/questions/11371/human-genome-sequencing-cost-in-2031/) (as of 28 June 2023). Plot generated in R with assistance from GPT4. See [appendix](https://dkqj4hmn5mktp.cloudfront.net/GCBR_Report_Founders_Pledge_7505b1ebe0.pdf) for code.
**Source**: Data from Rob Carlson, “ [DNA Cost and Productivity Data](https://www.synthesis.cc/synthesis/2022/10/dna-synthesis-cost-data)” and Potomac Institute [report](https://potomacinstitute.org/images/studies/Future_of_DNA_Data_Storage.pdf) (2018). Thanks to Max Langenkamp for initial analysis and key considerations [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/14ahN2rCARBN1bwXUb27fN60kxEimuLqckSYDqUB1gQk/edit#heading=h.e5vvtl5szy76). Plot generated in R with assistance from GPT4.
For example, DNA synthesis — the creation of the building blocks of life on earth —is a key step in most legitimate biomedical research, but can also [facilitate the creation of dangerous potential pandemic pathogens](https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/2/11/21076585/dna-synthesis-assembly-viruses-biosecurity). To help prevent terrorist groups from creating and releasing such pandemic agents, stakeholders need to screen DNA synthesis, both the people ordering sequences and the danger posed by the sequences themselves, but **no country requires DNA synthesis
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