Paul Conyngham, an Australian AI consultant, spent over two years using ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok to design a personalized mRNA vaccine targeting his dog Rosie's mast cell cancer. Three months into treatment, two cancerous areas on Rosie's legs have shrunk to what appears normal, with only residual scar tissue remaining. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met Conyngham this week and called the encounter "the coolest meeting I had."
"The chat bots empowered me as an individual to act with the power of a research institute - planning, education, troubleshooting, compliance, and yes, real scientific design work in converting genomic data to a vaccine prescription and designing the treatment protocol around it," Conyngham wrote in a detailed account published on X, as "Hvylya" reports. Altman shared his reaction in a separate post.
Rosie's cancer was diagnosed in May 2024, 11 months after Conyngham first noticed swollen lumps on her head and leg. Three separate veterinary visits failed to identify the disease. Once the cancer was diagnosed, the prognosis was grim. Conyngham, who runs an AI consulting business, threw himself into cancer research using ChatGPT while maintaining his full-time job. Early treatments - chemotherapy and standard immunotherapy - proved either too expensive or ineffective.
The breakthrough came in August 2025, after two other approaches failed - screening over a million existing compounds for a molecular match, then attempting to license a patented drug whose holder refused compassionate use. Conyngham spent a night in conversation with ChatGPT, exploring whether he could create a vaccine himself. A referral chain from a UNSW professor led him to Dr. Deborah Burnett, who suggested mRNA technology over Conyngham's initial idea of a peptide neoantigen vaccine. "This is yet another example of the ideation bouncing between humans and chat bots that was critical to the process," he wrote.
The vaccine was manufactured by Professor Pall Thordarson's team at the UNSW RNA Institute and administered at the University of Queensland's School of Veterinary Science by Professor Rachel Allavena and Dr. Jose Granados. Three weeks after initial treatment, Rosie's cancerous areas swelled - a phenomenon called pseudoprogression, indicating T-cells swarming the tumor. By February 2026, two tumors on Rosie's legs were visibly receding. A mass on Rosie's rear that did not respond to the vaccine was surgically removed and sent for further genomic analysis.
Altman wrote on X that the story "immediately got me thinking 'this should be a company.'" Conyngham confirmed he has spent the past week speaking with everyone involved to determine whether the process can be made scalable. "It started with one dog," he wrote. "It will not end with one."
"Hvylya" previously reported on OpenAI's chief scientist warning that AI creates an "unprecedented" concentration of power in the hands of individuals and small teams.