In a very engaging marketing video, the company demonstrates “real Neuron gameplay”: Apocalypse It runs on its CL-1 Neural Computing System, a microchip with 200,000 human neurons embedded in what is called a “multi-electrode array”. (For comparison, while the exact number of neurons in an average human brain remains a subject of some debate, it is on the order of tens of billions—which really reinforces how amazingly powerful and complex our own brain is.)
Anyway, this is the video Wild-And it gets even scarier as various company representatives explain exactly what’s going on.
First of all, the chip is not running Apocalypse; Its Playing Doom. Or, to be more precise, various elements of on-screen data are being mapped onto patterns of electrical stimuli, which are then transmitted to neurons. Neurons respond to these stimuli with their own signals, which control the on-screen character’s actions: “If the neurons fire in a specific pattern, Doomguy shoots. If they fire in another pattern, he moves to the right. And so on.”
At one point, a researcher shows some microscope images of the chip, and we see how complex and very clearly organic webs of neurons move around the clear, straight lines of the circuitry. It seems straight out of a science-fiction movie. I mean, look at this:
The second thing is that neurons are Learn. Currently, they’re not particularly good at it Apocalypse: “Cells work like an amateur who has never seen a computer. And in all fairness, they have never seen a computer.” But give them a few years, and who knows? The plasticity of the networks formed by neurons is a big part of what makes our brains so powerful and adaptable. If these networks were optimized in the same manner, we would probably find that they are very, very good Apocalypse.
(That said, with a few small exceptions, the footage does not actually depict Apocalypse. Neurons are playing freedomwhich runs on Apocalypse The engine—which has been open-source for decades—but doesn’t use any of Doom’s iconic monsters or weapons, which remain under copyright. there is nothing against us freedom Actually, but come on—can’t we at least provide a proper copy of DOOM.WAD to our future brain-in-a-vat overlords?)
Obviously there are many fascinating and potentially troubling questions raised by this type of technology. What immediately comes to mind is, “Whose cells Are These must have someone’s DNA in them. Are we going to face another Henrietta Lacks situation two decades from now, where every single neurocomputer is harassing everyone online? call of duty 17 Are there neurons that originate from the same individual?
The company has launched something called the “Cortical Cloud,” which promises to allow developers around the world to experiment with the CL-1 through a Python-based API. This collegiate sentiment is admirable, but the idea of using human neurons to generate AI porn or something else seems distasteful. However, who knows? Perhaps in a few generations’ time, this will seem as common as today’s highly complex processors being used for the same purpose.
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