10 big projects for reducing bio x-risk

Published on May 9, 2026 5:42 PM GMTEngineered pathogens pose a grave threat to society, plausibly constituting an existential risk[1] (‘x-risk’) to humanity.[2]Yet remarkably few people are working full-time on this problem. By my count, there are ~160 people on the planet whose full-time job is reducing bio x-risk.[3] This entire group could fit on a single short-haul flight. As one point of comparison, something like 200+ organizations are working on AI safety – a problem area that is neglect...