Silicon Valley’s new obsession: building better babies

Artificial intelligence and satellite internet are so yesterday. Now, Silicon Valley is turning its attention to a new cutting-edge tech: tweaking babies’ genes before they’re born.

A startup called Preventive, backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, recently secured $30 million to explore how to safely create genetically edited babies, marking the largest investment to date in the once-taboo technology.

It’s a compelling pitch

The idea is to use gene-editing to eliminate hereditary diseases before they start, as well as lower the risk of common conditions like heart disease or osteoporosis. At its most extreme, the tech could potentially be used to fine-tune traits such as IQ, height, or eye color.

• Outside of Preventive, several startups—including Orchid, Nucleus, and Herasight—already offer “genetic report cards” for IVF embryos.
• For a price of up to $50,000, prospective parents can use these genetic tests to rank IVF embryos for future IQ, lifespan, height, and other traits.

But not everyone’s impressed. Many scientists warn that the process of editing human embryos can be unpredictable, and any mistakes could affect generations of people.

• Opponents also cite a desire to avoid America’s sordid history with eugenics, which includes the mass sterilization of Americans with “unwanted” characteristics.
• The use of gene editing in human embryos is currently illegal in the US (and many other countries), so Preventative and similar companies are located overseas.

Looking ahead…While most designer-baby companies are still in the research phase, many experts say it’s inevitable that editing human embryos will become commonplace in the future.