Anybody who has played or watched The Last of Us will feel somewhat uneasy about this week’s news that researchers have successfully created robots controlled by mushroom mycelia. Unlike the game’s fungally-infected zombies, these mushroom-powered machines represent a groundbreaking step towards harnessing biological systems for computing.
This development is part of a broader research trend in bio computing and hybridisation, where biological structures are fused with traditional computing systems. At the forefront of this field is the study of brain organoids – tiny, lab-grown clusters of human brain cells that can be integrated with electronic systems. This “organoid intelligence” (OI) aims to create biological computing substrates that could potentially offer far greater energy efficiency than traditional silicon-based systems.
Last month we reported on Swiss startup FinalSpark who offer access to its brain organoid computers for $500 per month. These systems use dopamine to “train” the organoids, mimicking the brain’s natural reward system. “We encapsulate dopamine in a molecular cage, invisible to the organoid initially,” explains FinalSpark co-founder Dr Fred Jordan. “When we want to ‘reward’ the organoid, we expose it to specific light frequencies. This light opens the cage, releasing the dopamine and providing the intended stimulus to the organoid.“
As we’re all aware, current AI systems consume enormous amounts of energy. Biocomputers could potentially operate at a fraction of this energy cost, making AI more sustainable and accessible. For businesses, this could mean reduced operational costs and the ability to deploy more powerful AI systems without the current energy constraints.
But what about the ethics I hear you say? As these biological computing systems become more sophisticated, questions arise about their potential for sentience or consciousness. Dr. Brett Kagan of Cortical Labs, (who have trained cells to play the game Pong), grapples with these questions daily. “We’re entering uncharted territory,” Kagan says. “At what point does a collection of neurons become something more? And what rights or protections should we afford to these entities?“
Takeaways: The emergence of intelligent biocomputing, from mushroom-controlled robots to brain organoid computers, represents an actual ‘paradigm’ shift! Buy while offering the potential for more efficient systems, it also brings ever more ethical and practical challenges. This research may not prove usable for some time, but it begs the question; can we get much nearer to the level of energy efficiency we see in the likes of the human brain… exaflop power on 20 watts? For a fascinating journey into what ubiquitous exaflop sale computing at 20-watts would look like, we recommend the brilliant Carl Shulman discussing this on the 80,000 hours podcast.