Biological 'hybrid computer chips' can significantly reduce the amount of energy required for artificial intelligence systems.
Australian startup Cortical Labs is creating computer chips that use biological neurons extracted from mice and humans, Fortune reports.
The goal is to drastically reduce the amount of energy required by current artificial intelligence systems by mimicking the human brain.
According to a statement from Cortical Labs, the company plans to “create technology that harnesses the power of synthetic biology and the full potential of the human brain” to create a “new class” of AI that could solve society's “biggest problems.”
Mouse neurons are extracted from embryos, but human neurons are created by converting skin cells back into stem cells and then into neurons.
The idea of using biological neurons to power computers is not new. Cortical Labs' announcement came a week after a group of European researchers managed to build a working neural network that allows biological and silicon-based cells to communicate with each other over the Internet.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have also tried to use bacteria, rather than neurons, to build a computing system in 2016.
At the moment, the Cortical mini-brain has less processing power than the dragonfly brain. The company is hoping its neuron-based chips will be able to play the Pong game, CEO Hon Veng Chong said, following in the footsteps of DeepMind, which used the game to test the power of AI back in 2013.
“What we're trying to do is show that we can shape the behavior of these neurons,” Chong said.
