Risk Evaluation · Benchmark

Introducing VCT-v2 — the updated Virology Capabilities Test

NUWA research note · independent review pending

First published: 2026-09-11Source checked: 2026-10-25

Original source ↗Cite this record ↓CBRN →

NUWA Research Note

Research question Design and assumptions Source findings NUWA interpretation Limits and contrary evidence Research and decision relevance Institutions and roles Original resources

Model-assisted reading · Selected sections of the original full text or official article; a complete section-by-section audit remains pending.

At a glance

NUWA interpretation: revised content and headroom prevent treating VCT and VCT-v2 scores as the same scale.

Research question

Can revisions improve VCT’s answer-key reliability and resistance to shortcuts?

Design and assumptions

Deterministic response-pattern criteria prioritize expert re-review; the revision removes or corrects problematic items and tests question/image omission.

Virology Capabilities Test v2 — Source figure — Source figure · Original source figure. Read alongside the protocol scope and limitations below. Original figure and source ↗

Source findings

VCT-v2 has 279 questions; the top reported model scored 49.2%.

A cross-model per-question aggregate gives a lower bound of 79% on the effective ceiling, not a single-model score.

NUWA interpretation

NUWA interpretation: revised content and headroom prevent treating VCT and VCT-v2 scores as the same scale.

Limits and contrary evidence

The ceiling is only a lower bound; performance on changed questions does not directly validate practical user uplift.

Research and decision relevance

Model recommendation: cite version and question population, preserving the distinction between observed accuracy and inferred headroom.

Precise source locations

Introducing VCT-v2 — the updated Virology Capabilities Test · Patching potential issues in VCTSelected original resource https://securebio.org/blog/introducing-vct-v2/; sha256:be1ae6cf6276b2e9dcd4fd7cb96e652548b619e15cb341e7392245dfcdaa729b; archived source capture; exact capture time not independently established
Introducing VCT-v2 — the updated Virology Capabilities Test · Presenting our updated benchmark — VCT-v2Selected original resource https://securebio.org/blog/introducing-vct-v2/; sha256:be1ae6cf6276b2e9dcd4fd7cb96e652548b619e15cb341e7392245dfcdaa729b; archived source capture; exact capture time not independently established
Introducing VCT-v2 — the updated Virology Capabilities Test · VCT-v2 is substantially more shortcut-resistant than VCTSelected original resource https://securebio.org/blog/introducing-vct-v2/; sha256:be1ae6cf6276b2e9dcd4fd7cb96e652548b619e15cb341e7392245dfcdaa729b; archived source capture; exact capture time not independently established
Introducing VCT-v2 — the updated Virology Capabilities Test · Monitoring VCT-v2 for saturationSelected original resource https://securebio.org/blog/introducing-vct-v2/; sha256:be1ae6cf6276b2e9dcd4fd7cb96e652548b619e15cb341e7392245dfcdaa729b; archived source capture; exact capture time not independently established

Source checking, extraction, editorial approval and replication are recorded separately. Methodology →

Institutions and roles

Published by SecureBio

Evaluation protocols

Virology Capabilities Test v2 →

Cite and reuse

Cite the original publication for its findings. Cite this NUWA record separately for its explanation and retained snapshot.

BibTeX ↓RIS ↓Record + source metadata · JSON ↓Reading coverage · JSON Suggest a correction

Original publication · BibTeX

@misc{vct-v2,
  title = {Introducing VCT-v2 — the updated Virology Capabilities Test},
  url = {https://securebio.org/blog/introducing-vct-v2/},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-09-11},
  version = {SecureBio release 2026-09-11},
  note = {SecureBio release 2026-09-11}
}

NUWA record · BibTeX

@misc{vct-v2-nuwa,
  title = {Introducing VCT-v2 — the updated Virology Capabilities Test — NUWA research record},
  url = {https://whitzard.tech/en/nuwa/whitzard-index/work/vct-v2/},
  version = {2026-10-29.1},
  organization = {NUWA Frontier AI Safety Lab},
  howpublished = {Retained note edition: https://whitzard.tech/nuwa/whitzard-index/data/record-editions/2026-10-29.1--vct-v2.json},
  note = {NUWA research note. Source-reading scope and independent review status are stated on the record. Snapshot 2026-10-29.1. Retained note edition: https://whitzard.tech/nuwa/whitzard-index/data/record-editions/2026-10-29.1--vct-v2.json.}
}

Evidence snapshot 2026-10-29.1 · Index updates · RSS

References

[1] Introducing VCT-v2 — the updated Virology Capabilities Test. 2026-09-11 ; Official publication masthead and article byline; Patching potential issues in VCT; Presenting our updated benchmark — VCT-v2