VERSES Technologies Advancing Artificial Intelligence With Live Neurons

The artificial intelligence (AI) story is getting far more exciting by the day. We already know AI could be a $1.8 trillion by 2030, according to Statista. We also know companies are racing toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), where AI can perform all human cognitive skills better than the smartest human, as noted by Forbes.

Now, we’re learning that companies, like VERSES Technologies Inc. VERS VRSSF are unlocking further AI potential by fusing live neurons with silicon chips. All in an effort to have technology copy the brain.

Building Computer Chips with Live Neurons with VERSES Technologies

VERSES AI Inc., a cognitive computing company specializing in biologically inspired distributed intelligence, today announced a partnership with Cortical Labs, a biological hardware startup that is seeking to revolutionize computing by fusing live neurons with silicon chips.

The partnership between VERSES and Cortical Labs marks an alignment of philosophies around the future of computing between software patterned after algorithms found in nature and hardware constructed from brain cells. Cortical Labs, recently backed by billionaire Li Ka Shing and In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), are the creators of DishBrain - a synthetic biological computer consisting of 800,000 neurons, grown in-vitro, capable of performing goal-directed tasks, such as playing the tennis-like computer game Pong.

“Cortical Labs’ research results show that active inference is a beneficial approach when teaching neurons grown in vitro to perform tasks and we are thrilled to announce that we plan to continue this research in partnership with Cortical Labs. The VERSES research team will be exploring the development of novel algorithms that leverage Cortical Labs’ synthetic biological intelligence systems with the aim of solving real-world problems. Over the years, GPU-based systems have continued to yield major breakthroughs and impressive results, but we believe that path is not sustainable. We seek to find not only new software but new hardware solutions that embody the efficiencies found in nature,” said VERSES CTO Jason Fox.

Some of Cortical Labs' work is based on the free energy principle, which was developed by VERSES Chief Scientist Karl Friston, whose impact on the understanding of how biological systems work has been linked to Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

“Our research concludes that biological processes are more energy efficient than current GPU technologies and have a higher sample efficiency for training than current state-of-the-art reinforcement learning techniques. We hope this will result in greater accessibility to the technology regarding cost and, more importantly, a lower environmental footprint than traditional AI to make and operate. We are excited to form this partnership with VERSES and collaborate on innovative ways to advance our technologies,” said Hon Weng Chong, M.D. Founder and CEO, Cortical Labs.

Cortical Labs joins VERSES’ beta partnership program, which intends to feature ten partners across multiple industries and of various sizes and stages interested in using VERSES’ Genius™ platform to deploy smarter and safer intelligent software.

For more information on these exciting AI developments with VERSES AI, click here.

Featured photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

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