NEURONS ON SILICON

Cortical Labs have created something quite amazing. They’ve productionised an in vitro biological mini brain. When reading about it, I immediately thought of a brain in a jar Futurama style. I am sad to say, this is not the case.

Their first product CL1, expected to be available to buy in June this year, consists of a silicon chip with lab-grown human neurons cultivated on its surface. These neurons can respond to electrical signals, forming networks that process information similarly to a biological brain. To maintain the viability of the neurons, the CL1 is equipped with a life-support system that regulates temperature, gas exchange, and other necessary conditions.

In 2022 they announced they had reached a milestone. They’d managed to teach their biological computer to play Pong, the 70s video game where you bounce a ball back and forth. It couldn’t play well, mind you. If there was a world cup in Pong it would probably end up last. It often missed the ball, but its success rate was well above random chance.

So what can it do now? It appears it is no better at Pong and beyond research, where testing how real neurons process information, I struggle to see the purpose in its current form. The idea to integrate biological elements into computing is novel. And perhaps it is a way to improve efficiency in tasks that traditional AI struggles with, such as pattern recognition and decision-making in unpredictable environments.

The CL1 has about 800,000 neurons. For comparative purposes, a cockroach has about 1 million and a human brain has about 86 billion neurons. The question is, as Cortical Labs increase this number in future products, at what point does ethical concerns kick in? Do they at all? If CL37 exhibits levels of consciousness and self-awareness, should it be regarded an entity with rights?

What do you think? Is this a way to bridge current AI systems to actual AGI? Are there ethical concerns?

References:

• Cortical Labs website: https://corticallabs.com/

• Article One about Cortical Labs: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-03-05/cortical-labs-neuron-brain-chip/104996484

• Article Two about Cortical Labs: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/worlds-first-body-in-a-box-biological-computer-uses-human-brain-cells-with-silicon-based-computing

• Article about Pong’s history ‘No one had seen anything like it’: how video game Pong changed the world: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/nov/25/history-pong-video-game-atari-nolan-bushnell-al-alcorn?ref=refind

• Scientists Discuss the Future of Biological Computing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWCryxkixKw