Artificial Intelligence

$10M for Cortical Labs to bridge human neurons and AI

April 20, 2023
Cortical Labs

AI meets synthetic bio! Cortical Labs is developing a new class of AI using human neurons. They’ve just raised $10M in funding! 

  • Horizon Ventures led the round. They’re a Hong Kong-based VC owned by Billionaire Li Ka-shing. 
  • Blackbird Ventures, LifeX Ventures, Radar Ventures, and In-Q-Tel also joined in. 
  • Prior to the latest round, they raised $1.62M from investors including Blackbird Ventures and January Capital. 

The newest capital injected will be used to commercialize their biological computer chips. 

🧠 Science non-fiction

Cortical Labs uses clusters of lab-cultivated neurons to form a “DishBrain”. 

  • It’s done using human stem cells. 
  • This integrates into their Biological Intelligence Operating System (biOS)

Human neurons unlock many possibilities. They have generally remained an untapped resource — but can be better than purely digital AI models. 

Speedy! The DishBrain can adapt, and learn faster than purely silicon-based AI. 

  • Oh, they also require less energy!

👀 Growing intelligence

A study shows that biological computer chips can successfully learn to play video games. 

  • In this case, it learned to play Pong!  

DishBrain x Computer. Electrical signals were sent to the DishBrain and it was able to make decisions and improve performance throughout the game. 

👏 Real world applications 

This technology holds so many possibilities including early disease detection and removing animals from drug testing. 

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