As the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine summit on the regulation of CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing tools gets under way, we invite readers to contribute their opinions about this technology and its use to a survey at go.nature.com/eyowaf.

Public engagement in decisions about applications of science and technology that affect society is essential. The summit is, to a degree, modelled on the 1975 Asilomar Conference on the potential biohazards of recombinant DNA (see Nature http://doi.org/899; 2015). It must not make the same mistake of being held behind closed doors.

As one survey contributor remarks, it may be impossible “to get this [CRISPR–Cas9] genie back into the bottle”. So when it comes to wishes for the genie, those of both scientists and the public must be considered.