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Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Demis Hassabis, and Mustafa Suleyman co-signed a letter to Congress this week asking for mandatory screening on synthetic DNA orders — citing evidence that AI systems now outperform PhD-level virologists on lab procedure questions. What the letter frames as a fresh bipartisan opportunity has a quieter backstory: the Biden administration's nucleic acid screening framework was ordered dismantled by Trump executive order in May 2025, a 90-day replacement deadline passed months ago with nothing published, and the Senate bill the letter is designed to move has been sitting in committee since early 2026. The ask is a supply-chain fix, not an AI fix — and the gap between what these companies are asking Congress to build and what their own researchers have shown can already defeat existing screening is the tension worth watching.