From Bloomberg, March 9:
Biotech startup Cortical Labs is working on two small data centers run by human brain cells, putting lab-grown neurons onto silicon in an experiment that could one day challenge chips from the likes of Nvidia Corp.
The Australia-based startup unveiled its first biological data center in Melbourne and is building another in Singapore with partner DayOne Data Centers Ltd., it said in a statement on Tuesday. Instead of racks of servers running on conventional processors, the facilities will house biological computers known as CL1 units, powered by human brain cells.
While years or decades away from challenging mainstream technology, the project highlights scientists’ search for novel solutions to address problems arising from an artificial intelligence-induced need for increasing amounts of computing capacity. The swift buildout of AI data centers across the planet has led to environmental concerns over their power needs and water consumption as well as shortages in silicon....
[They grow up so fast.]
...The computing capacity of Cortical Labs’ systems is modest, but the company is making progress. One of its earlier achievements was to teach its brain cells to play the rudimentary computer game Pong. Last month, it said it had trained them to play the much more advanced title Doom....
....MUCH MORE
From playing Doom one month to running a data center in Singapore the next.
March 7 - "Human Brain Cells Learn to Play Doom in Cortical Labs Experiment"
Possibly also of interest:
September 2018 - Lab Grown Mini-Brains Raise Some Ethical Questions
June 2024 - Another Way To Beat AI's Power Consumption Problem: Brain Organoids
Previously in organoids and such:
"Lab-Grown Mini Kidneys 'Go Rogue,' Sprout Brain and Muscle Cells"
Getting into a weird area here.
- Ah, the Swiss: "Nestle Finds a Reliable Supply of Brain Cells"
- ICYMI: "Researchers Teach Human Brain Cells in a Dish to Play 'Pong'"
- "Cyborg computer with living brain organoid aces machine learning tests"
The Act of Thinking Can Accelerate Brain Tumor Growth
Yikes. Shut it down, shut it down, Ōm shanti shanti shanti, Ōm.
