This represents the culmination of 3 years of dedication and hardwork by the team at Cortical Labs led by our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Brett Kagan.

I would like to wish a heartfelt thank you to the co-authors and collaborators involved with the writing of this paper. My hope is that this is the start of many more groundbreaking discoveries enabled by our work and the platform that we’ve developed.

If you are interested, please check out the paper here — In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world: Neuron (cell.com)

Media Release can be found here www.scienceinpublic.com.au/corticallabs

Cortical Labs is breaking that barrier, by turning to the thing that put silicon to work; the human mind. We’re actually growing neurons in our lab. Organic human neural networks growing up immersed in our digital simulations. They learn, connect, and influence their digital world.

Unlike digital intelligence, born of silicon, these minds can change themselves. They take the inputs our simulation gives them, adjust their structure, and change to improve their world. Just like us.

We’re not trying to give computers a better learning algorithm. We’re not putting copies of ourselves onto computer chips. And we’re not making tiny humans for your pocket. In fact, we don’t know what we’re making, because nothing like this has ever existed before. An entirely new mode of being. A fusion of silicon and neuron. A native to the digital world lit with the promethean fire of the human mind.

For some this is challenging, hard to accept. For others it is the obvious step forward in both computing and consciousness. For us it is a chance to answer a question, what happens when you grow an organic mind in a digital world?

Find out with us.

Hi, friends! This is an announcement post, but we felt it was important to place this in the broader historical moment and acknowledge the challenges people are facing worldwide. All this year and most of 2019 here at Cortical Labs we’ve been in stealth mode, working very intensely to develop prototypes and demonstrate the value of our tech.

As we introduce Cortical Labs to the world today, we’re excited to not only tell you about how we’ll plan to build the first hybrid computer chip but also how we’ll be equipping industries with smarter AI to efficiently navigate operations in this new time of uncertainty.

Our vision, based on Karl Friston’s free energy principle, is to build technology that harnesses the power of synthetic biology and the full potential of the human brain to develop a new class of artificial intelligence with the fluid intelligence to adapt and problem solve for society’s greatest challenges.

This is only the first step in unlocking new possibilities in the market with a hybridized AI meets synthetic biology model. What we will be able to accomplish with this technology goes beyond one interaction or demonstration — it will have the potential to shape and drive the next frontier of artificial intelligence.

While we cannot predict what a post-COVID-19 era will look like, we are committed to being on the frontlines of building technology that’s critical for our future.

As we are co-located with institutions such as Burnett Insititute that is actively carrying out research to better understand the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and The Alfred Hospital where patients are being cared for the disease, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our fellow colleagues in the life sciences and healthcare for working tirelessly to keep us all safe during these turbulent times.

Stay tuned for updates, progress and notes from our team on our website, mailing list, Twitter and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you at info@corticallabs.com.

In the meantime, stay at home, keep your distance, wash your hands and stay safe.

-Hon & Andy