An Australian tech company has released what it is calling the world’s first “biological computer” that fuses human brain cells with silicon hardware.
Cortical Labs, a company out of Melbourne, Australia, is led by CEO Hon Weng Chong and a team of researchers. Cortical Labs is boasting the release of the CL1, which is touted as a dynamic, sustainable, and energy-efficient computer that is better than any current artificial intelligence.
That is perhaps because the company says it uses human brain cells that are grown on a silicon “chip” and used as an organic computer. The technology, known as synthetic biological intelligence, allegedly outpaces silicon-based AI chips in terms of training language models, also commonly referred to as chatbots.
The company’s website explains the life of the cells in detail, citing “real neurons” that are cultivated inside a nutrient-rich environment.
“They grow across a silicon chip, which sends and receives electrical impulses into the neural structure.”
Under the heading “raised in a simulation,” Cortical explains that the neurons exist in a world the company created, which is admittedly a “simulated world” where the neurons are fed information about their environment.
“Their impulses affect their simulated world,” it reads. “You get to connect directly to these neurons. Deploy code directly to the real neurons, and solve today’s most difficult challenges,” the company goes on.
The neurons are further described as self-programming, infinitely flexible, and “the result of four billion years of evolution.”
“Today is the culmination of a vision that has powered Cortical Labs for almost six years,” said Weng Chong. “Our long-term mission has been to democratize this technology, making it accessible to researchers without specialized hardware and software. The CL1 is the realization of that mission.”
Cortical Labs noted on its site that in 2022 it successfully taught 800,000 living brain cells to learn how to play the game Pong. As NPR reported, the cells were linked to a computer and gradually learned to sense the position of the game’s ball and control the virtual paddle.
“If we allow these cells to know the outcome of their actions, will they actually be able to change in some sort of goal-directed way?” Chief Scientific Officer Brett Kagan asked at the time.
The company described itself as creating science “for the greater good” and claims to operate within its own established, ethical guidelines. While these guidelines did not appear to be immediately available, Cortical Labs assured readers that its research will enable solutions to complex problems that will improve human health and well-being.
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Return, Bio computer, Cyborg, Biological intelligence, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Tech
