Lab-grown human brain cells form biocomputer available for rent
- The computer platform technology is available for $500 a month
- People can watch the cells in action on a livestream
- Ethical concerns exist about their future
Visitors view a ”humanoid robot” at the 2024 World Robot Conference in Beijing, China, on August 22, 2024.
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(NewsNation) — AI has long been considered to be part of the present and future, but perhaps not “living computers.”
As profiled by Live Science, Swiss startup FinalSpark has launched a service wherein scientists can rent “biocomputers”, which they say uses 100,000 times less energy than current top-of-the-line AI hardware.
These computer platforms are created by lab-grown cells known as organoids. These organoids are products of synthetic biology and are available for rental for $500 per month over the internet.
Organoids are simply synthetically created versions of an organ. In the case of FinalSpark, they replicate the human brain.
Just like the brain itself, there are dopamine rewards and electrical stimulation which create various pathways, according to Live Science.
Researchers and the lay person alike can watch the technology in action 24 hours a day. Though, there are some obstacles.
“The challenge is to find the appropriate way to get neurons to do what we want them to do,” co-founder Fred Jordan told Live Science.
There are limitations with the organoids. As of August 2024, they can last approximately 100 days before dying off.
Whether these “miniature brains” could ever gain consciousness is currently unknown, but Jordan is speaking with requisite “cultural background[s] to help us answer these ethical questions.”
