In 1992 I worked as an English teacher and translator for the research team of a French veterinary pharmaceutical company called Rhône Merrieux. It is tied to the Pasteur Institute.

In a discussion, the question of AIDs came up and I mentioned an article I had seen suggesting that AIDs was a manufactured virus stemming from a similar virus found in sheep in England.

The team was aware of this similarity and they confirmed that the RNA chain was identical for a long sequence in the 2 viruses. In the discussion they explained that if someone were to attempt to alter an existing animal virus to be used as a weapon they would almost certainly choose a retro-virus like AIDS. The direct replication of RNA without passing through DNA makes the task much simpler.
They were guarded in their opinions about whether or not AIDs was in fact a manufactured virus but they admitted the possibility.