Scientists in Melbourne have successfully taught human brain neurons living in a tray how to play the 1970s computer game Pong.
In a world first, researchers from biological computing operation Cortical Labs showed that 800,000 brain cells living in a dish could perform goal-directed tasks.
The results of the study, published on Thursday, are gaining international attention.
Pong is one of the most basic computer games around and was one of the first.
Pong was hugely popular when it first came out. Source: SBS News
Researchers from Cortical Labs and Monash University worked together on the project.
Adeel Razi, Associate Professor at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University, said the difficult part was connecting the neurons to the electric rays.
"So you could grow human neurons using stem cell technology, that's really a part of it, I guess, to grow new neurons in a dish. We actually grew both human neurons and also separately, the mouse neurons,” he said.
“But then the difficult part was, and the new part was is that they dropped them onto a microelectrode ray, a ray of electrical sensors. And, yeah, and then connected the whole thing to a game of Pong.”
He said electrical pulses told the neurons where the ball might be.
“And then, after a few minutes, the neurons started to learn, be organised, make networks and started to play the game."
Mr Razi said neurons operate at a higher speed and performance than pure machine learning technology.
He said this could be used to combine biology with machine technology, improving the intelligence of robotics.
“So we are creating devices out of out of active materials that actually collaborate with them. We don't actually exactly tell them what to do, but we try to collaborate with them and then let them imagine what to do."
The CEO of Cortical Labs, Hon Weng Chong, said the project began in 2019, when his team wanted to do something different to what was being researched in what he calls the 'artificial intelligence craze'.
“There were a lot of projects out there, which was deep learning, machine learning based and those who are heavily dependent on data,” he said.
“And so my co-founder and I looked at this, and we said, is there something else that we could do? I think that it's also in the space, but not quite directly competing."
Scientists were able to get brain cells in a dish to move the elements on the screen to play Pong. Source: SBS News
Flies, he said, even with a relatively small number of neurons, operate at a higher level of intelligence than drones.
"And the inspiration for that really came from an observation in nature, where if you look at, you know, even a fly and how it navigates the world with only 100,000 neurons, and it's incredible,” he said.
“So we looked at it and we said, okay, so you have something that has exhibited general intelligence has the ability to operate in the real world. One that uses significantly less power than what we currently have. Why not build something with it?"
While the technology opens doors for innovation, it also raises concerns from an ethical standpoint.
Danielle Hamm, director of the UK-based Nuffield Council on Bioethics, told the BBC questions around consciousness must be considered.
"Will these so-called mini-brains develop to the point where they can feel pleasure or pain? How might we consider their moral status if they were conscious or sentient?" she said.
"And how should we regulate the use of this research and future technology? These are questions that we haven't begun to consider.”
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