Cortical Labs, an Australian company that builds biological computer chips, taught pools of brain cells how to play Pong. Yes, you read that correctly!
A report by New Scientist (thanks, PC Gamer) details how Cortical Labs grafts organic brain cells onto microelectronic arrays to create hybrid computer chips. BrainDish, the company’s oh-so appropriately named latest experiment, tests the problem-solving skills of these cybernetic petri dish concoctions. As it turns out, the 1970s hit video game Pong is a great learning tool for these microscopic friends.
Electrical pulses from the arrays create virtual game worlds where each mini cyborg brain interprets signals as to where the Pong ball is, then moves the paddles to intercept the ball’s trajectory. Just like we soon-to-be-obsolete humans would! According to Cortical Labs, the cyborg brains believe they’re literally the Pong paddles while playing.
“We often refer to them as living in The Matrix,” Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer at Cortical Labs, said via New Scientist. “When they are in the game, they believe they are the paddle.”
Hundreds of thousands of brain cells in a dish are being taught to play Pong by responding to pulses of electricity. “We think it’s fair to call them cyborg brains,” says Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer of Cortical Labs, who leads the research. https://t.co/5z3rQIOCjT pic.twitter.com/EokInKRZ0i
— New Scientist (@newscientist) December 22, 2021
Cortical Labs also claims that it only takes BrainDish about five minutes to figure out how to play Pong, much faster than the estimated 90 minutes it takes AI to learn. Though the company also said once an AI has the game’s rules down, it would blitz BrainDish in a head-to-head.
Perhaps one day, BrainDish will test its skills in Halo Infinite or Apex Legends a nd take the esports world by storm in the process.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
