Billionaire biotech investor Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and chairman of Moderna, has called for regulation of AI agents before they reach customers. He made his case at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi on October 13, 2026, citing the thalidomide disaster as a cautionary example. Afeyan distinguishes large language models, which he frames as representing “capability,” from AI agents, which he defines by their “intentionality” and autonomous action. He advocates for safety checks before commercial deployment without calling for a halt to fundamental research. While acknowledging the potential of these technologies for drug discovery, Afeyan warns of risks including the generation of harmful compounds or unreliable outputs in unregulated environments.
Source: Read the original article
