Report: New AI chip that uses human brain tissue just got military funding

The human brain is a marvelous thing. Not only have science experiments proven that human brain cells can learn faster than AI, but some scientists are now even utilizing brain cells in the use of their AI chips, making them faster and stronger than ever.

Last year, researchers from Monash University created what they dubbed the “DishBrain,” a semi-biological AI chip that introduced human and mouse brain cells into its design. The DishBrain was exceptionally promising, learning to play a version of Pong in just five minutes.

That promise could be harnessed even more going forward, too, as a project surrounding this human brain AI chip has received a grant of $407,000 from Australia’s National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research Grants Program. This could allow them to create more advanced versions of the DishBrain.

These programmable computer chips not only utilize the power of AI, but they blend it seamlessly with the biological computing of the human brain. It’s a step that could push computing much further than simply relying on silicon-based hardware. At least, that’s what many of the researchers involved believe.

If this research does prove successful, then it could open entirely new doors for state-of-the-art computer chips that utilize artificial intelligence. It could also have implications across several fields, including robotics, planning, advanced automation, drug discovery, and brain-machine interfaces.

This could, ultimately, underpin an entirely new generation of machine learning that is even more powerful than what we’re seeing with things like OpenAI, Google’s attempts at AI, and whatever Apple might have cooking. The researchers say they will be using the grant to develop more advanced AI machines that can replicate the learning capacity of biological neural networks.