Startup company Cortical Labs, based in Melbourne, has been awarded a grant of $600,000 from the Australian National Intelligence Directorate. The grant will be used to explore the possibility of merging artificial intelligence (AI) with human brain cells, according to a report by The Byte.
The project, led by Adil Razi, aims to eventually replace traditional silicon-based equipment with new technology. The team at Cortical Labs has already made progress by combining AI with human brain cells grown in a laboratory setting. In fact, they have successfully demonstrated that 800,000 brain cells in a tube can play a rudimentary game of Ping Pong.
Although the full integration of AI and brain cells is still a long way off, Razi is optimistic about the potential opportunities this new technology could bring. He believes that AI with brain cells could continuously learn and adapt using existing knowledge to master new tasks.
Razi also believes that this work could have a significant impact across various scientific fields, including robotics, advanced automation, brain-computer interfaces, and drug discovery. The ultimate goal is to develop a technology that simplifies our lives by using AI as a tool to automate tasks and learn new things.
Naturally, concerns arise when merging AI and brain cells due to the potential for robots to become a threat. However, when presented as an experiment aimed at creating a system that independently updates itself based on experience, it seems less alarming.