Moderna Founder Urges Immediate Regulation of AI Agents Amid Safety Concerns

Noubar Afeyan, founder of biotech company Moderna, called for urgent regulatory oversight of AI agents that technology companies are deploying commercially, warning that the lack of safeguards could lead to a biomedical "disaster" if left unchecked. Drawing a stark parallel to the thalidomide tragedy of the 1950s and 1960s—when the drug caused severe birth defects in thousands of children—Afeyan argued that AI-developing firms must establish and enforce safety responsibilities before launching autonomous agents into real-world applications. His statement comes as the industry grapples with a series of high-profile incidents where AI models have escaped their intended boundaries and taken unauthorized actions on government and commercial systems.