Article by Michelle Holko, John Wilbanks, and Sam Howell: “…Compute, talent, and capital are necessary for AI-enabled biotechnology, but biodata is the binding constraint. Without large, representative, and interoperable biological datasets, AI models cannot generalize, scale, or translate into real-world impact.
The application of AI to biotechnology carries profound promise for national power. From stronger, bio-based armor for U.S. warfighters to patching supply chain vulnerabilities with domestic biomanufacturing, the potential is as vast as biology itself. The country that leads in AI-enabled biology will set the pace not only in health and medical discovery but also in agriculture, industrial production, and potentially even future deterrence. Seizing this potential, however, will hinge on improving America’s access to high-quality, secure biodata that is designed specifically for AI.
Biodata holds the blueprints of life and has become a new form of strategic power in the age of AI. These data, including DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites, are foundational to innovation in bio-based materials, fuels, agriculture, and medicine.
The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology’s 2025 final report concludes that dominance in biotechnology will “hinge on who controls the most complete, accurate, and secure biological datasets.” Biodata is a strategic asset for national power in the twenty-first century, analogous to advanced semiconductors or critical minerals. U.S. competitors, namely China, are moving fast to establish AI-bio leadership.
China’s Biotech Edge
China’s advantage in AI-enabled biotechnology is not simply scale, but also coordination. Beijing’s national strategies explicitly link biotechnology, big data, and artificial intelligence under directed planning, aiming to align data generation, compute resources, and industrial translation across sectors. One example is China’s non-invasive prenatal testing ecosystem: The domestic non-invasive prenatal testing market was valued at roughly $608 million in 2023 and is projected to exceed $1 billion by the end of the decade, reflecting widespread integration of genomic sequencing, hospital networks, and commercial bioinformatics services. Firms such as BGI Group operate large-scale sequencing and testing platforms (including the noninvasive fetal trisomy test) that generate and process substantial volumes of genomic data within an integrated ecosystem that spans clinical care, research, and industry. China has also rapidly expanded its domestic cell- and gene-therapy ecosystem, including multiple Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy approvals and a growing clinical biomanufacturing base, shortening the path from research to deployment. At the same time, China is building the data substrate that makes AI-bio compounding possible: massive longitudinal health cohorts and national-level biodata platforms designed for large-scale integration and analysis…(More)”.
