Scientists controlled to teach one of the human brain cells in a petri dish how to play the video game “Pong,” so to speak.
Researchers at biotech startup Cortical Labs have created “mini-brains” made up of between 800,000 and one million living human brain cells in a petri dish, Reports New Scientist. The cells are placed on top of a microelectrode array that analyzes neuronal activity.
“We think it’s fair to call them cyborg brains,” Brett Kagan, clinical director of Cortical Labs and head of studies on the project, told New Scientist.
To teach the game to the mini-brains, the team created a simplified edition of “Pong” for an opponent. A signal is sent to the right or left of the board to indicate where the ball is, and neurons in the brain cells send signals to move the paddle.
“We refer to them as living in the Matrix,” Kagan told the magazine, in a horrific reference to the 1999 film in which humans are enslaved by AI lords in a global simulation. “When they’re in the game, they think they’re rowing. “
Well, it’s a scary enough concept to cause existential panic to anyone.
Kagan said that while mini-brains can’t play the game as well as a human, they are informed faster than some AIs.
“The Amazonian side is how temporarily it learns, in five minutes, in real time,” he told New Scientist. “It’s an amazing thing that biology can do. “
While it’s a Twitch fodder, the Cortical Labs team hopes to use their findings to expand complicated generation by employing “living biological neurons embedded in classical silicon computing,” according to the team’s website.
So, yes, they need to create cyborg brains that use genuine biological cells, which makes sense. Since neurons can be informed so quickly, they can be particularly informed by existing AI when combined with devices.
But we would never have imagined that the plot of “The Matrix” would predate the release of the last film.
READ MORE: Human brain cells are informed on a plate to play Pong faster than an AI [The New Scientist]
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