Swiss company develops CPUs from lab-grown human brains & the internet is horrified
Imagine acomputerthat uses human brain cells instead of an artificial processor to operate. That’s exactly what Swiss FinalSpark, has created and select research institutions can already rent them out for $500 a month.
FinalSpark, a Swiss start-up, has developed a “neuroplatform” which lets you remotely access 16 lab-grown human brain organoids. It’s been up and running 24/7 for the past four years, to enable researchers to conduct remote experiments on real neurons.
FinalSpark toldTom’s Hardwarethat its Neuroplatform is capable of learning and processing information and “consumes a million times less power than traditional digital processors”. In a research paper published onFrontiers, FinalSpark claims that “training a single LLM like GPT-3, a precursor toGPT-4, approximately required 10 GWh, which is about 6,000 times the energy a European citizen uses per year.”
The Swiss company’s goal is to develop a bioprocessor. Its platform has four multi-electrode arrays (MEA), each capable of accommodating four organoids and eight electrodes per organoid.
While the idea behind a human brainCPUis innovative, the internet isn’t exactly thrilled. “So lab-grown brainchunks do neural computing better than silicon. Got it,” wrote onereddit user. “This is the way forward, just don’t forget to feed your PC with glucose from time to time,” another usersaidjokingly.
You will live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.pic.twitter.com/5rzlWWE5lN
“This is objectively horrific,”wroteone X user. “Great, so, reincarnating into a computer chip is now on the table, cool cool,”saidanother. “Holy Sh*t, it’s almost just the movie The Matrix. Absolutely insane,” wroteX user @KeeganSpinBray.
While the neuroplatform remains accessible to select institutions, there is no indicator that organoid access will land in a consumer computer near you any time soon.
