A biocomputer capable of hearing sounds from human brain tissue
A 'biocomputer' called 'Brainoware' has been developed, which possesses the ability to recognize sounds through electrical pulse training.
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Researchers have created a "biocomputer" consisting of lab-grown human brain tissue and electronic circuits that they say can perform tasks such as speech recognition. To achieve this, the researchers converted clusters of human cells called "organoids" into neurons and paired them with electronic circuits, resulting in a system they named "Brainoware."
BIOCOMPUTER DEVELOPED
According to details reported by Donanımhaber, co-author of the study and Indiana University bioengineer Feng Guo stated in an interview with the journal Nature that their goal was to build a bridge between artificial intelligence and organoids, and to leverage the efficiency and speed of the human brain in processing information. Guo added to his statement, "We wanted to investigate whether we could harness the biological neural network within a brain organoid for computing."
Ultimately, it is hoped that brain-inspired biological computers will perform tasks on behalf of traditional artificial intelligence while also providing scientists with an exciting new way to study the human brain. In a series of experiments, the team connected their organoid mini-brains to a plate consisting of thousands of electrodes. They then sent data to the organoid in the form of a series of electrical pulses and "decoded" what it said using a machine-learning algorithm.
Using their system, the team performed speech recognition after feeding Brainoware 240 recordings of eight people speaking. After the system and the artificial intelligence were trained on the data, the researchers stated that Brainoware was able to identify the original speaker with 78 percent accuracy.
The researchers hope that the technology could be used to study conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and the effects of various treatments.
However, since growing the cells is an expensive and laborious process, it will likely be difficult to scale the mini-brains to a size capable of completing more complex tasks. Nevertheless, this is an intriguing new development in the field of bio-computing that could pave the way for future brain-inspired computers.