With an aim to strengthen public health and build resilience against biological threats, OpenAI has launched Rosalind Biodefense, a new initiative aimed at helping trusted developers build biodefense and pandemic-preparedness applications using GPT-Rosalind, the company’s AI model designed for life sciences research.
The company has also expanded access to the model for select U.S. government and allied partners supporting public health and biodefense missions.
“The institutions working to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats need equally powerful tools. We believe frontier AI should meaningfully advantage those defenders and that doing so requires responsible deployment structures and trusted access models that put advanced capabilities in the hands of vetted partners who are building new biodefense applications, tools and initiatives to bolster societal resilience,” the company said.
OpenAI said access to GPT-Rosalind is being provided through a trusted-access model intended to support public-health and biodefense work while maintaining appropriate safety and security safeguards.
The company highlighted that its approach is focused on building layered resilience, including preparedness evaluations, bio-specific capability assessments, safer model behavior for dual-use biological requests, monitoring and enforcement, expert red teaming, and security controls for higher-risk capabilities.
“In July 2025, we released ChatGPT agent, the first model we treated as High Capability in biology under our Preparedness Framework and activated robust safeguards to minimize the risk of harm. Since then, we have continued refining those safeguards and sharing detailed assessments,” the company stated.
OpenAI said it has worked with external experts and public-sector partners to strengthen the broader biosecurity ecosystem, including expert biologists, government organizations such as the U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI), the UK AI Security Institute (UK AISI), Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Frontier Model Forum.
The company will sponsor access to GPT-Rosalind and provide support to trusted developers building frontier biosecurity applications that can bolster societal defenses and improve pandemic preparedness. This includes work across areas such as epidemiological modeling, early detection, screening, preparedness, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), and other public-health capabilities.
“We’re excited to test OpenAI’s GPT-Rosalind in Fourth Eon’s work developing AI-native biosecurity screening systems that analyze sequences and generate detailed threat assessments.
Robust screening can improve the ability to detect and mitigate potentially dangerous DNA orders before they create downstream risk, strengthening prevention,” said Gary Abel, co-founder and chief scientist of Fourth Eon.
OpenAI said Fourth Eon, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) are among the first organizations participating in the initiative.
Fourth Eon Biosecurity builds adaptive screening infrastructure designed to identify potentially unsafe or malicious biological material orders, including novel DNA designs.
The company said its goal is not only to accelerate life sciences research but also to support the development of products and interventions that strengthen societal resilience against biological threats.
OpenAI added that the Rosalind Biodefense Program is open to qualified applicants globally and that it plans to expand engagement with additional government and public-health partners over time.
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