A brain grown in a lab has learned to play the classic video game Pong in just five minutes, claim Melbourne-based researchers involved in the project.
It sheds fresh light on how grey and white matter works, offering hope of developing new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological conditions.
The organ, called DishBrain, contains 800,000 neurons -- taken from humans and mice -- all living and operating in tandem.
It is far more like the real thing than artificial intelligence (AI), which takes 90 minutes to pick up the computer challenge.
Although, with no consciousness, it does not know it is playing Pong in the way a human player would, the researchers stress.
Their peer-reviewed study has been published in the journal Neuron.
Lead author Dr Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer of biotech start-up Cortical Labs in Memphis, Tennessee, said: “We have shown we can interact with living biological neurons in such a way that compels them to modify their activity, leading to something that resembles intelligence.”
He hopes the technology might eventually be used to test treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
The cells are cultured in petri dishes on top of microelectrode arrays that read their activity. They move the paddle back and forth according to the location of the ball.
Cortical’s chief executive officer Dr Hon Weng Chong said: “DishBrain offers a simpler approach to test how the brain works and gain insights into debilitating conditions such as epilepsy and dementia.”
Other experts describe the work as ''exciting'' but say calling the brain cells sentient is going too far.
AI researchers have already produced devices that can beat grandmasters at chess.
But Prof Karl Friston, of University College London, who is working with Dr Kagan, says: "The mini-brain learned without it being taught and so is more adaptable and flexible."
Mini-brains were first produced in 2013, to study microcephaly, a genetic disorder where the brain is too small, and have since been used for research into brain development.
But this is the first time they have been plugged into, and interacted with, an external environment, in this case a video game.
Pong was an arcade game released in 1972 where two players use paddles to bat a ball back and forth – making a “pong” noise upon contact, hence the name.
Pong was hugely successful and extremely simple. Its simplicity and iconic status prompted the researchers to choose it for their initial test.
