Human brain cells in a dish learn to play Pong faster than an AI

[Yuli Ban]

Living brain cells in a dish can learn to play the video game Pong when they are placed in what researchers describe as a “virtual game world”. “We think it’s fair to call them cyborg brains,” says Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer of Cortical Labs, who leads the research.

Many teams around the world have been studying networks of neurons in dishes, often growing them into brain-like organoids. But this is the first time that mini-brains have been found to perform goal-directed tasks, says Kagan.

[Ozzie guy]

Living brain cells in a dish can learn to play the video game Pong when they are placed in what researchers describe as a “virtual game world”. “We think it’s fair to call them cyborg brains,” says Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer of Cortical Labs, who leads the research.

Many teams around the world have been studying networks of neurons in dishes, often growing them into brain-like organoids. But this is the first time that mini-brains have been found to perform goal-directed tasks, says Kagan.

This is unlikely but part of me feels like we will eventually find out the brain cells were experiencing emotions like sadness and anger when missing the pong ball leading to this type of research being unethical.

[bretbernhoft]

Living brain cells in a dish can learn to play the video game Pong when they are placed in what researchers describe as a “virtual game world”. “We think it’s fair to call them cyborg brains,” says Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer of Cortical Labs, who leads the research.

Many teams around the world have been studying networks of neurons in dishes, often growing them into brain-like organoids. But this is the first time that mini-brains have been found to perform goal-directed tasks, says Kagan.

I find this to be rather interesting. How biological matter was more efficient than digital matter, at solving a (relatively) complex challenge through adaptation and learning. Thank you for sharing the link.

[Hournmentent]

Living brain cells in a dish can learn to play the video game Pong when they are placed in what researchers describe as a “virtual game world”. “We think it’s fair to call them cyborg brains,” says Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer of Cortical Labs, who leads the research.

Many teams around the world have been studying networks of neurons in dishes, often growing them into brain-like organoids. It can help with robots in areas like nursing since there is a shortage of staff, there are essays about this that you can get the facts about in more detail. But this is the first time that mini-brains have been found to perform goal-directed tasks, says Kagan.

This news looks very promising to me.