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Organoid Intelligence - Revolutionary computers powered by human brain cells
Scientists are almost ready to reveal a revolutionary path for the advancement of computing. It is called “organoid intelligence” (OI), in which brain organoids grown in the laboratory would act as biological hardware.
Artificial intelligence has long been inspired by the human brain. This approach has proven to be very successful. AI boasts impressive achievements – from diagnosing medical conditions to writing poetry. Despite this, the original model still outperforms the machines in many ways. That's why, for example, we can "prove our loveliness" with trivial image tests online. Instead of trying to simulate the human brain, the scientists went straight to the source.
Many disciplines are striving to create revolutionary biocomputers, where 3D cultures of brain cells, called brain organoids, serve as biological hardware. They published their plan to realize this vision in the journal Frontiers in Science.
"We call this new interdisciplinary field 'organoid intelligence' (OI)," said Professor Thomas Hartung of Johns Hopkins University. "A community of top scientists has come together to develop this technology, which we believe will usher in a new era of fast, powerful and efficient bioprocessing."
What are brain organoids and why can they be such good computers?
Brain organoids are a special type of laboratory-grown cell cultures. Although brain organoids are not classified as "mini-brains", they share key aspects of brain function and structure, such as neurons and other brain cells, which are essential for the cognitive functions of learning and memory. Why are they so special? Most cell cultures have a flat structure, and organoids are three-dimensional, which increases their cell density by 1000 times. As a result, neurons can form much more. connections.
But even if brain organoids are a good imitation of the brain, why would they be good computers? After all, aren't computers smarter and faster than brains?
"While silicon-based computers are certainly better at numbers, brains are better at learning," explained Hartung. “For example, AlphaGo [the AI that beat the world's number one Go player in 2017] was trained on data from 160,000 games. ÄŒa person should play five hours a day moreÄ than 175 years to play the same number of games."
The brain is not only a better student, it is also a more energy efficient student. For example, the amount of energy used to train AlphaGo is greater than that required to "maintain" an active adult for a decade.
"The brain also has an incredible capacity to store information, estimated at 2,500 TB," Hartung added. "We're reaching the physical limits of silicon computers because we can't pack more; of transistors in a small Äip. But the brain is built completely differently. It has approximately 100 billion neurons connected through several as 1015 connection points. This is a huge difference compared to our current technology."
What would organoid intelligence biocomputers look like?
According to Hartung, the current brain organoids need to be enlarged if they want to serve as organoid intelligence. “They are too small, each containing about 50,000 cells. For OI, this number should be increased to 10 million," he explained.
In parallel, researchers are developing technology to communicate with organoids. Simply put, they are developing technology to send information and read data from which they could understand what the organoids are "thinking". In this, they will help each other with tools from various scientific disciplines and adapt them for their purposes, such as bioengineering and machine learning. This will enable them to develop new stimulation and recording devices.
"We have developed a device that will act as an interface between the brain and the computer. It is a kind of EEG cap for organoids, which we presented in an article published last August. It is a flexible shell that is densely covered with tiny electrodes that can pick up signals from the organoid and transmit them to it," said Hartung.
The team of researchers envisions that OI would eventually include a wide variety of stimulation and recording tools. They will orchestrate interactions in networks of interconnected organoids that would perform more complex computational tasks.
Organoid intelligence could help prevent and treat neurological conditions
The potential of organoid intelligence extends beyond computing itself. Healthcare is the area that could have the most from new technology. Nobel laureates John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka have developed a breakthrough technique that makes it feasible to produce brain organoids from adult human tissue. This means that scientists can develop customized brain organoids from skin samples from patients with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. They can then test how genetic factors, drugs and toxins affect neurological diseases.
"We could also study cognitive aspects of neurological conditions with OI," said Hartung. "For example, we could compare memory formation in organoids obtained from healthy people and Alzheimer's disease patients and try to correct the relative deficiencies. OI could also be used to test whether certain substances, such as pesticides, cause problems with memory or learning."
Ethics and moral principles
The creation of human brain organoids that can learn, remember and communicate with their environment raises complex ethical questions. For example, could we develop consciousness even in a basic form? Can they experience pain or suffering? And what rights would people have over brain organoids made from their own cells?
Researchers are well aware that their work raises many ethical questions. "A key part of our vision is the development of OI in an ethical and socially responsible way," said Hartung. "That's why we've worked with ethicists from the very beginning to establish an 'embedded ethics' approach. All ethical issues will be continuously evaluated by teams consisting of scientists, ethicists and the public.»
How farÄ are we from the first organoid intelligence?
OI is a series of initial bandages. A recently published study by researcher Dr. But Brett Kagan of Cortical Labs proves that the concept works. His team demonstrated that a normal, flat cell culture can learn to play the video game Pong.
"His team is still testing this with brain organoids," Hartung confirms. “I would say that repeating this experiment with organoids still meets the basic definition of OI. From here, it's just a matter of building communities, tools, and technologies to realize the full potential of organoid intelligence."
