Computer scientists have for decades been vying to emulate the human brain, replicating its neural networks to build artificial intelligence (AI) with enhanced processing power.
But the more sophisticated those artificial neural networks become, the more powerful they get, and the more we rely on them, the more energy they consume. And sometimes nature's original design is just better in some regards.
In the latest demonstration of nature's efficiencies, a Swiss start-up company has just launched a 'biocomputer' that connects to living, pulsing brain cells and, according to its makers, uses far less energy than traditional, bit-based computers as a result.
Rather than merely integrating biological concepts into computing, FinalSpark's online platform 'taps' into spherical clusters of lab-grown human brain cells called organoids. A total of 16 organoids are housed within four arrays that connect to eight electrodes each and a microfluidics system that supplies water and nutrients for the cells.
The approach, known as wetware computing, in this case harnesses researchers' abilities to culture organoids in the lab, a fairly new technology that allows scientists to study what are essentially mini replicas of individual organs.
The rise in organoids as a popular research technique comes at a time when artificial neural networks, which underpin large language models such as Chat GPT, have also exploded in use and processing power.
FinalSpark claims that so-called bioprocessors like the brain-machine interface system they're developing "consume a million times less power than traditional digital processors".
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