How would it be lethal? Please specify. What would that theoretical entity be able to do that hasn't been done many, many times before?
Couple that with mass unemployment in an incredibly vast, diverse population of individuals with individual moral boundaries willing to do whatever for money.
And then.. figured that you must be aware because it's been explored constantly in sci-fi for many, many years.
Let's hope for the culture at least.
Now a reckoning is here. The potential to be attacked might actually translate to being attacked.
What will the AI do that hasn't been tried before?
Snipers have killed people before. If snipers are now automated, is the worry that there’s not enough creativity to warrant a discussion past saying “same old, same old”?
I believe the universal answer is: incompetent malicious actors are now capable too. Which implies the pool from which to draw the intersection between capable and malicious has grown. (That's my reading)
What would the AI do that mutating viruses, which try every possible viable combination on their own --- eventually, can't?
Everything is trying to kill humans constantly. There are around 200 epidemic events or so per year that could turn into pandemics, https://centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/tabletop-exerci...
You just live with the risk and do your best to use our technology to alleviate suffering. This tool can help with that at some point. But I'm yet to hear what an AI will leap to that nature in tooth-and-claw hasn't? And how?
More importantly how would it know it succeeded? What data from what lab from what animal from what result? This is biology, if you sneeze wrong at an instrument it gives you a different number, see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49620521
Viruses evolve in a highly locally-optimal way and simply do cannot add new functional proteins wholescale. It's too many steps, natural selection has to allow survival at each intermediate step.
Humans, however, can do this for them.