Brains of the Operation

Biological computers pair the best of human & artificial intelligence

The human brain is an incredible thing. We aren’t the fastest or strongest creatures on Earth, but we rose to the top of the food chain because we’re the smartest. We created tools to give us an advantage over the faster or stronger animals. We created computers that can solve problems our brains would take hours to tackle. Where computers outdo humans is in processing simple information. A computer can multiply two very large numbers faster than we can because there are simple rules for the calculation. When it comes to making decisions based on complex information, there’s no beating the human brain. So, what if we combined the power of a computer with the power of a human brain? What if we could fuse human brain cells with computer hardware? What might we be able to do then? We’re about to find out.

A Biological Computer

In 2022, Australia’s Cortical Labs put 800,000 human and mouse neurons on a computer chip and trained the new network, called DishBrain, to play the classic video game Pong. Playing a simple, 50-year-old game that plenty of computers have mastered isn’t the most towering achievement, but it displayed promise of what could be.

Three years later, Cortical Labs has unveiled CL1, the world’s first commercialized biological computer. The CL1 combines real, living human brain cells with silicon hardware to create neural networks that learn faster than any LLM.

“We almost view it actually as a kind of different form of life to let’s say, animal or human,” Cortical Labs chief scientific officer Brett Kagan told New Atlas. “We think of it as a mechanical and engineering approach to intelligence. We’re using the substrate of intelligence, which is biological neurons, but we’re assembling them in a new way.”

The company creates brain cells by extracting blood cells from volunteer donors and generating induced pluripotent stem cells. As the name implies, these cells can become just about any type of cell that occurs in the human body. Cortical Labs ensures they develop into brain cells.

“What we do is take those, and we start to use two different methods to differentiate them,” Kagan explained. “One, we can either apply small molecules, which is called an ontogenetic differentiation protocol, where we essentially try to mimic the molecules that happen in utero or, rather, in the fetus’ developing brain. The other method is where we directly differentiate them, where we choose to up-regulate specific genes that are involved in neurons.”

Much like a child learns, these brain cells learn by observing patterns. The chip they’re connected to sends them information, and they learn to send correct responses.

The Only Generalized Intelligence

The development of these brain cells is much like that of organoids, and much like organoids the CL1 could prove indispensable for medical research. When it comes to drug discovery and testing and disease modeling, the brain cells could relay valuable information about what effects they’re experiencing under certain conditions. It might be the next best thing to a real brain.

“The large majority of drugs for neurological and psychiatric diseases that enter clinical trial testing fail, because there’s so much more nuance when it comes to the brain – but you can actually see that nuance when you test with these tools,” Kagan told New Atlas. “Our hope is that we’re able to replace significant areas of animal testing with this. Animal testing is unfortunately still necessary, but I think there are a lot of cases where it can be replaced and that’s an ethically good thing.”

Cortical Labs goal is to have four stacks of about 30 CL1 units – each about the size of a shoebox – available for cloud-based commercial use by the end of the year, New Atlas reported. When CL1s go on physical sale, they’re expected to fetch about $35,000 per unit. Each stack uses 850 to 1,000 watts of energy, far more efficient than other kinds of computers. And these biological computers have potential that AI doesn’t.

“The only thing that has ‘generalized intelligence’ … are biological brains,” Kagan told the ABC. “What humans, mice, cats, and birds can do (that AI can’t) is infer from very small amounts of data and then make complex decisions.”

But as wetware, they’re fragile and need ideal conditions to work as intended.

“The perfusion circuit component acts as a life support system for the cells – it has filtration for waste products, temperature control, gas mixing, and pumps to keep everything circulating,” Kagan told New Atlas.

Do Biocomputers Get A Break?

Amazingly, Cortical Labs is not alone in achieving biocomputing breakthroughs. In 2024, a team of Chinese scientists introduced MetaBOC, an open-source system that allows brain cells to control robots by connecting brain-on-chip biological computers with electronics. Swiss biocomputing company Final Spark allows researchers remote access to its 3D organoids and livestreams them.

“Now we are using a booking system where all the universities can book some hours, including us. So, they are used 24/7,” co-CEO Fred Jordan told Cosmos.

Which raises the question, if these are living brain cells, don’t they need rest?

“This is a living organism, and we have to take care that it’s in a good situation to perform tasks. We are not forcing sleep, but with some molecules we may induce a state similar to sleep during some periods,” Jordan said. “I think it’s really appropriate to ask ourselves these kinds of questions.”

Answering this question only leads to more ethical questions. At what point do we consider these biological computers their own individual organisms with rights?

Scientists are just beginning to develop an ethical framework around biocomputing. Doing so quickly is important as the field grows quickly and the benefits start to unfurl.

“The potential is massive and there’s nothing really we can compare it to,” scientific futurist Catherine Ball told Cosmos. “The human neuron always beats the silicon creation – it’s always the best way. So, using the best kind of cognition – the human brain – in a tiny form just seems logical. It makes so much sense.”

In terms of recreating intelligence, nothing beats the real thing.