Testing Large Language Model Agents on the Use of Biological Tools for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening Evasion

Jeffrey Lee, Alyssa Worland, Christopher Rodriguez, Kyle Brady, Grant Ellison, Henry Alexander Bradley, Dawid Maciorowski, Jordan Despanie, Barbara Del Castello, Jason Johnson, et al.

ResearchPublished Aug 11, 2026

Assessing a threat model in which malicious actors leverage large language model (LLM) agents to exploit biological tools (BTs), the authors evaluate whether agents can lower expertise barriers for hazardous biodesign. They find that LLM agents demonstrate emerging ability to use BTs for nucleic acid synthesis screening evasion, although success is inconsistent and model safeguards frequently limit testing of closed-weight systems.

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Lee, Jeffrey, Alyssa Worland, Christopher Rodriguez, Kyle Brady, Grant Ellison, Henry Alexander Bradley, Dawid Maciorowski, Jordan Despanie, Barbara Del Castello, Jason Johnson, and Steph Guerra, Testing Large Language Model Agents on the Use of Biological Tools for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening Evasion. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2026. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4741-2.html.
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