Learning from other Domains to Advance AI Evaluation and Testing: Governance of Genome Edition in Human Therapeutics and Agricultural Applications

Genome editing in its current form burst upon the scientific scene most vividly with the 2012 publication of a landmark paper by Jennifer Doudna, Emmanuelle Charpentier and colleagues. It was quickly apparent that this approach to genetic alteration i.e. controlled change to DNA sequences, which is more precise than earlier methods due to the use of a programmable, bacterial enzyme called Cas9, had tremendous potential across a wide variety of applications in multiple species, ranging from industrial processes to agricultural innovations to drug and gene therapy development.

Responses to proposed uses of genome editing have been influenced by how genome editing is itself framed as a practice, i.e., what genome editing is considered to be. Some saw its use in agriculture, for example, as continuous with pre-modern breeding techniques, which themselves exploited naturally occurring genetic variation in selective breeding for improved traits. Others focused on discontinuities, seeing genome editing as a modern biotechnology, which raises questions about whose interests are served by its use and the broader impacts of such technology on society. However genome editing was described, the need for attention to attendant ethical issues and appropriate governance immediately became apparent, particularly in the case of contentious uses, such as heritable changes to the human genome.