Updated for 2026: Ethical ESM3 research in 2026: dual-use biosafety, data rights, evaluation bias and honest scientific communication.
Assess dual-use risks
Protein design can be beneficial but may be misused. Apply institutional biosafety procedures and provider acceptable-use policies. Requests to increase the harmful effects of biological agents need expert risk assessment and may be prohibited.
Respect data permissions
Confirm that training and inference inputs may legally be processed by the selected provider. Avoid unnecessary transmission of proprietary or personal information and review platform retention policies.
Avoid overstatement
Model outputs are hypotheses, not validated treatments, environmental solutions or safety guarantees. Disclose computational limitations, known evaluation gaps and uncertainty.
Keep people accountable
Document human review for sensitive studies and make responsibility for decisions explicit. Follow relevant local institutional, export-control and applicable regulatory requirements.
Evidence and further reading
Primary sources: Biohub ESM3 model, Biohub maintained ESM repository, and Biohub learning resources. Check model cards and release notes for version-specific instructions.
Editorial note: Updated October 2026. Distinguish scientific literature and current product documentation from speculative applications; verify current API details before running code.