The first commercial biological computer in the world that started from the Australian start -up

Cortical Labs launched CL1 – the world's first commercially available computer based on neurons from human stem cells.

The technology is based on the fusion of the laboratory -grown cells with hard silicon. The aim is to create a new form of artificial intelligence (AI), which is referred to as synthetic biological intelligence (SBI).

SBI promises to be able to grow faster, to adapt and to learn as AI based on standard silicon computer chips. It also requires far less energy-one 30 units rack with CL1 uses 850 to 1,000 watts of energy. In comparison, it is estimated that the training of a major language model such as GPT-3 is used to use a little less than 1,300 megawatt hours of electricity to use the annual use of 130 US houses.

CL1 was held from the Australian start at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) from March 3 to 6 in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

It is the highlight of 6 years of research in Cortical Labs, including the 2022 – Pong.

Dishbrain's success in 2022 showed that the cultivated cells could be trained by stimulus, rewards and feedback in order to carry out goal -oriented behavior.

At the time, cosmos Dipped deeply into the question of whether Dishbrain was a step towards synthetic sensations, and ethics and science behind the cultivation of cells to produce a biological computer.

Hon Weng Chong, founder and CEO of Cortical Labs, says that the goal of the start -up goal is to make the biological computer accessible researchers without specialized hardware and software.

“The CL1 is the realization of this mission,” he says. “While today's announcement is incredibly exciting, it is the basis for the next stage of innovation. The real effects and the real effects are carried out by every researcher, academic or innovator who builds on it. “

The company hopes to produce and send units and racks from CL1 by the end of June of this year. Cortical Labs also offers Wetware-As-A-Service (WAAS) so that the biological computers can be created on remote access to applications.

The laboratory-cultivated CL1 cells are bred via a silicon chip in which pens are used to send electrical impulses into the network of neurons and receive impulses back. This creates a high bandwidth connection between the organic network and digital installation.

MWC organizes a rack with CL1 computers. Cortical Labs and researchers at the University of Barcelona will use the rack to show how the world's first biological computer can be used outside of a laboratory.

“The CL1 is an incredible instrument to expand our neurons in a completely controlled environment and enable us to monitor and change their electrophysiological features,” says the head of the MWC-based research Sandra Acosta, assistant professor at the University of Barcelona. “This is definitely an inflexion point for long -term experiments that avoid the risky and disturbing movements from the incubator or the MEA [microelectrode array] Devices for execution of the necessary selection. “