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New Intelligence Report

Editor: Yongyong Qiao Yang

【New Wisdom Introduction】MetaBOC, recently developed by a team from Tianjin University, is the world's first open source brain-on-chip intelligent complex information interaction system. The brain-on-chip has opened up a new path for brain-computer interface technology and will have a revolutionary impact on the development of cutting-edge scientific and technological fields such as hybrid intelligence and brain-like computing.

We are already familiar with the thought experiment of "brain in a vat", but have you ever heard of "brain on a chip"?

MetaBOC (BOC stands for brain-on-chip) was jointly developed by the Haihe Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interaction and Human-Computer Integration of Tianjin University and the Southern University of Science and Technology. It is the world's first open source on-chip brain-intelligence complex information interaction system.

This human brain organ connected to a computer chip can control the robot to achieve various actions such as obstacle avoidance, tracking, and grasping, completing a variety of brain-like computing inspiration work. Some of the research results were recently published in the international journal Brain in the field of brain science.

This time, "mind control" has become a reality, and our country's scientific researchers have taken brain-computer interface technology to a new level!

As the name suggests, "brain-on-a-chip" consists of two parts: "chip" (electrode chip) and "brain" (brain cultured in vitro). It mainly uses stem cell culture technology to create a "brain-like tissue" outside the human body.

It has some intelligent functions of a biological brain, and by adding an electrode chip to it, scientists can debug it or send signals to the outside world to achieve specific functions, such as autonomously controlling the robot to avoid obstacles and grasp objects.

Although the on-chip brain installed in the robot looks a bit funny in the official photos of Tianjin University, it does not affect the technological content of this project at all.

The "pill-shaped object" in the picture above is just a "demonstration of future application scenarios" rather than a prototype of the product. In fact, it is more likely to look like this:

A Quick Overview of Global Brain-Computer Interface Technology

When it comes to brain-computer interfaces, many people will think of Musk's Neuralink.

Projects like Neuralink aim to connect high-bandwidth computer interfaces directly to your brain, while projects like MetaBOC are growing human brain cells into computers.

Although one is inside the human body and the other is outside the human body, they are both on the path of integrating carbon-based and silicon-based intelligence.

Unlike the traditional AI industry that consumes massive amounts of chips and data, brain-like intelligence consumes less power but has higher computing power.

After all, the human brain is the most complex information processing system discovered so far. Its simplicity and efficiency are unparalleled. This powerful "neck computer" only consumes a tiny 20 watts of power.

What’s more, human neuron-enhanced biological computers also appear to learn much faster than current AI machine learning chips, showing more intuition, insight, and creativity.

So, who are MetaBOC's peers around the world on this research path?

• DishBrain project at Monash University in Australia: Researchers implanted about 800,000 human and mouse brain cells into a chip, placed it in a simulated environment, and in about five minutes, this terrifying cyborg learned to play table tennis. The project was quickly funded and developed into a company called Cortical Labs.

Cortical Labs has developed a prototype computing module built around human brain cells and is looking to commercialize this hybrid learning intelligence

• Brainoware project at Indiana University: Researchers first let brain cells self-organize into a three-dimensional spherical "Brainoware" organism, and then inserted electrodes into it, stimulating the organoid's unsupervised learning ability through electrical stimulation.

MetaBOC’s Breakout

Ming Dong, vice president of Tianjin University and executive director of the Haihe Laboratory for Brain-Computer Interaction and Human-Computer Integration, said that unlike traditional technologies that mainly use the human brain or other biological brains as experimental subjects, the brain-on-a-chip will become an important emerging branch in the field of brain-computer interface, and is expected to have a revolutionary impact on the development of cutting-edge scientific and technological fields such as hybrid intelligence and brain-like computing.

Li Xiaohong, head of the brain-computer interface team at Tianjin University, said that this research has two major breakthroughs: first, the cell culture has moved from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, providing a more complex neural computing network for the brain-on-chip. Second, the addition of artificial intelligence algorithms has realized an attempt in the field of hybrid intelligence.

In addition, the team confirmed the role of physical fields in promoting the growth and development of human brain organoids, clarified the principles and mechanisms of low-intensity focused ultrasound regulation of the brain, and provided a "brain" with a better intelligent foundation for the MetaBOC brain-on-a-chip intelligent interaction system.

According to the Tianjin University team, they used spherical organ tissues, which is very similar to the Brainoware team at Indiana University mentioned above.

The three-dimensional physical structure allows them to form more complex neural connections, just like our brains. The organisms were grown under low-intensity focused ultrasound stimulation, which appears to provide them with a better basis for intelligence.

The MetaBOC system also seeks to stimulate intelligence with intelligence, using artificial intelligence algorithms in the software to communicate with the biological intelligence of brain cells.

Ethical and lifespan issues

When science and technology are about to push the limits of our understanding, they are always forced to become philosophical.

Will a brain-on-a-chip generate consciousness? Will artificial intelligence generate consciousness?

It is conceivable that in the near future both may eventually become indistinguishable from sentient life. Once this happens, what will become of ethics? Will the ethics of biological agents be different from those of silicon-based agents?

Humans are beginning to harness the physical building blocks of their own brains and use them to create cyborg brains that can intelligently control machines.

It still sounds incredible, but this is life in 2024, and we are speeding towards the mysterious technological singularity, a point in time when artificial intelligence surpasses our own intelligence and begins to develop and create things faster than humans can.

Besides the thorny ethical issues, there’s the problem that “wetware” components need to be kept alive. That means keeping them fed, watered, temperature-controlled, and protected from bacteria and viruses.

References:

https://newatlas.com/robotics/brain-organoid-robot/

https://news.tju.edu.cn/info/1005/71608.htm