Latest news with #BiologicalIntelligenceOperating
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Actual intelligence': Franken-PC debuts in Melbourne with a $35,000 price tag and claims of exceptional performance
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Cortical Labs has built the first deployable biological computer, priced at $35,000 The CL1 integrates living neurons with silicon for real-time computation The next step will be to build a biological neural network server stack Despite the unquestionably impressive advancements we've witnessed in recent years, AI is still lagging far behind human intelligence. While it can process vast amounts of data, recognize patterns, and generate responses at speed, it lacks true understanding and reasoning, and although it's getting better, the issue of hallucinations - when the AI makes stuff up - remains a problem. Two years ago, researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Australia, together with scientists at Cortical Labs in Melbourne, suggested that the answer to real, less artificial AI was organoids - computers built with human brain cells. Fast forward to today, and Cortical Labs has turned the theory into reality with the production of the world's first commercialized biological computer. The CL1, which will be manufactured to order but is available for purchase online (the option to buy time on the chips will also be offered), is a Synthetic Biological Intelligence (SBI). 'Real neurons are cultivated inside a nutrient-rich solution, supplying them with everything they need to be healthy. They grow across a silicon chip, which sends and receives electrical impulses into the neural structure," the company says. The world the neurons exist in is created by Cortical Labs' Biological Intelligence Operating System (biOS) and 'runs a simulated world and sends information directly to the neurons about their environment. As the neurons react, their impulses affect their simulated world. We bring these neurons to life, and integrate them into the biOS with a mixture of hard silicon and soft tissue. You get to connect directly to these neurons.' By deploying code directly to the real neurons, the company claims the CL1 can solve today's most difficult challenges, 'The neuron is self-programming, infinitely flexible, and the result of four billion years of evolution. What digital AI models spend tremendous resources trying to emulate, we begin with.' "Today is the culmination of a vision that has powered Cortical Labs for almost six years," noted Dr. Hon Weng Chong, Founder and CEO of Cortical Labs. "However, 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. While today's announcement is incredibly exciting, it's the foundation for the next stage of innovation. The real impact and the real implications will come from every researcher, academic, or innovator that builds on top of it." A report from New Atlasclaims Cortical is constructing a 'first-of-its-kind biological neural network server stack, housing 30 individual units that each contain the cells on their electrode array, which is expected to go online in the coming months.' The site reports the company is aiming to have four stacks available for commercial use via a cloud system by the end of 2025. As for pricing, the CL1 will be surprisingly affordable. 'The units themselves are expected to have a price tag of around US$35,000, to start with (anything close to this kind of tech is currently priced at €80,000, or nearly US$85,000),' New Atlas adds. For context, Apple's 'best failure' the Lisa, which paved the way for the Macintosh and even Microsoft Windows, sold for $9,995.00 in January 1983 which, adjusting for inflation, works out to a comparable $32,500 today. Will the CL1 prove be as important to computing's future as the Lisa was? It's impossible to say, but for now its impact will largely depend on scalability, practical applications, and how well it integrates into existing AI and computing systems. Computers built by human brain cells could help make AI less artificial Brain-like computers could become reality sooner than you think 'An extension of a scientist's brain': Researchers explore AI to augment inspiration
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The world's first 'body in a box' biological computer costs $35,000 and looks both cool as hell plus creepy as heck
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Here's one for you: when is a 'body in a box' not as macabre as it sounds? Simple—when it's a tech startup. Wait! Put the turn-of-the-millennium trench coat and sunglasses combo down! Let me explain. The CL1 is described as "the world's first code deployable biological computer" according to the splashy website, incorporating human brain cells in order to send and receive electrical signals (via The Independent). These cells hang out on the surface of the computer's silicon chip, and the machine's Biological Intelligence Operating System (or biOS for short—cute), allows users to wrangle the neurons for a variety of computing tasks. Organic hardware like this for research purposes isn't new—for just one example, FinalSpark's Neuroplatform began offering rentable 'minibrains' last year. The neurons central to the CL1 are lab-grown, cultivated inside a nutrient rich solution and then kept alive thanks to a tightly temperature controlled environment working alongside an internal life support system. Under favourable conditions, the cells can survive for up to six months. Hence, the project's chief scientific officer Brett Kagan pitching it "like a body in a box." Should you be so inclined to pick up your own surprisingly fleshy, short-lived computer, you can do so from June…for $35,000. Now, I know what you're thinking—not because you're actually living life in a Matrix-style pod, but purely because I'm asking the same question: Why? First, a smidge more background on this brain box, which is the latest project from Cortical Labs, and was unveiled this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. We've covered this Melbourne-based company before, with highlights including that time their team coaxed brain cells in a petri dish to learn Pong faster than AI. That lattermost experiment is the CL1's great grandparent, with continued scientific interest fostered by the hope that 'wetware' like lab-grown brain cells could give robotics and AI a serious leg-up. Whereas traditional AI can play something like the theatre kid favourite of 'yes, and' but totally lacks any true understanding of context, the lab-grown neurons could potentially learn and adapt. Furthermore, the lab-grown cells are apparently much more energy efficient compared to the power demands of AI using more traditional, non-biological computers. Turns out the old noggin cells are still showing that new-fangled silicon a trick or two. Who would have thought? However, there's no avoiding the question of ethics: what are these brain cells experiencing, and is it anything like sentience—or suffering? Perhaps my questions verge on the hyperbolic, but my own osseous brain box can do nothing but wonder. Best gaming PC: The top pre-built gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
