(March 10): Biotech start-up Cortical Labs is working on two small data centres run by human brain cells, putting lab-grown neurons onto silicon in an experiment that could one day challenge chips from the likes of Nvidia Corp.
The Australia-based start-up unveiled its first biological data centre in Melbourne and is building another in Singapore with partner DayOne Data Centers Ltd, it said in a statement on Tuesday. Instead of racks of servers running on conventional processors, the facilities will house biological computers known as CL1 units, powered by human brain cells.
While years or decades away from challenging mainstream technology, the project highlights scientists’ search for novel solutions to address problems arising from an artificial intelligence (AI)-induced need for increasing amounts of computing capacity. The swift build-out of AI data centres across the planet has led to environmental concerns over their power needs and water consumption as well as shortages in silicon.
The computing capacity of Cortical Labs’ systems is modest, but the company is making progress. One of its earlier achievements was to teach its brain cells to play the rudimentary computer game Pong. Last month, it said it had trained them to play the much more advanced title Doom.
The neurons used by Cortical Labs, grown from stem cells, sit on a chip that sends and receives electrical signals to the cells and records how they respond. This allows the company’s software to interact with the cells and interpret their responses as computing output.
Aside from the potential to tap into the brain’s ability to hold and process data, there’s an additional advantage to leveraging biology in this way: Neurons use very little energy. AI is driving a surge in electricity demand, forcing governments and technology companies to search for more efficient computing systems.
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Cortical Labs says its biological computers consume a fraction of the power used by conventional AI processors. Hon Weng Chong, the upstart’s founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview that each CL1 unit uses less power than a handheld calculator.
The Melbourne facility will house 120 CL1 units, while the Singapore location run with data centre operator DayOne is set to deploy as many as 1,000 units in phases, Hon said.
The Singapore project will start with an initial deployment at the National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. The CL1 units use neurons that have been converted from human blood cells.
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