Sunday, June 2, 2024

Another Way To Beat AI's Power Consumption Problem: Brain Organoids

'Beat' may be putting it too forcefully but still...

From Tom's Hardware, May 26:

World's first bioprocessor uses 16 human brain organoids for ‘a million times less power’ consumption than a digital chip
Swiss startup claims its Neuroplatform is a first for biocomputing.

A Swiss biocomputing startup has launched an online platform that provides remote access to 16 human brain organoids. FinalSpark claims its Neuroplatform is the world’s first online platform delivering access to biological neurons in vitro. Moreover, bioprocessors like this “consume a million times less power than traditional digital processors,” the company says.

FinalSpark says its Neuroplatform is capable of learning and processing information, and due to its low power consumption, it could reduce the environmental impacts of computing. In a recent research paper about its developments, FinalSpakr claims that training a single LLM like GPT-3 required approximately 10GWh – about 6,000 times greater energy consumption than the average European citizen uses in a whole year. Such energy expenditure could be massively cut following the successful deployment of bioprocessors.

The operation of the Neuroplatform currently relies on an architecture that can be classified as wetware: the mixing of hardware, software, and biology. The main innovation delivered by the Neuroplatform is through the use of four Multi-Electrode Arrays (MEAs) housing the living tissue – organoids, which are 3D cell masses of brain tissue....

....MUCH MORE

Previously in organoids and such:
"Lab-Grown Mini Kidneys 'Go Rogue,' Sprout Brain and Muscle Cells"
Getting into a weird area here.
The Act of Thinking Can Accelerate Brain Tumor Growth
Yikes. Shut it down, shut it down, Ōm shanti shanti shanti, Ōm.

And recently on electrical demands: