Cortical Labs' neuron-based systems require 5,000 times fewer steps than GPU systems to learn goal-seeking behaviors, a massive advantage for real-world robotics where time cannot be accelerated.

Companies are now growing human brain cells on silicon chips and offering cloud API access for developers to code to them. This bio-compute model, which taught neurons to play a video game in a week, is vastly more energy-efficient than traditional GPU clusters, heralding a new computing paradigm.

The next frontier of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) moves beyond implanting electrodes. Researchers are developing interfaces where a user's own neural stem cells are grown onto a silicon chip. This biological hybrid then integrates with the brain, creating a seamless connection to cloud-based AI.

The primary motivation for biocomputing is not just scientific curiosity; it's a direct response to the massive, unsustainable energy consumption of traditional AI. Living neurons are up to 1,000,000 times more energy-efficient, offering a path to dramatically cheaper and greener AI.

By growing neurons for their biological computers directly at data center locations, Cortical Labs creates a self-sufficient, decentralized model, eliminating reliance on a central hardware vendor and its supply chain.

Contrary to sci-fi imagery, the living neurons for biocomputing platforms are not extracted from animals. They are created from commercially available stem cells, which are originally derived from human skin. This process avoids the ethical and practical issues tied to using primary tissue.

Companies like Cortical Labs are growing human brain cells on chips to create energy-efficient biological computers. This radical approach could power future server farms and make personal 'digital twins' feasible by overcoming the massive energy demands of current supercomputers.

Biological computing is becoming accessible outside of major labs. Using Python and off-the-shelf components, an independent developer connected 800,000 human brain cells in a petri dish to the video game Doom, successfully teaching the neurons to play. This raises profound ethical questions about consciousness in 'wetware' experiments.

There's a qualitative difference between neurons grown in vitro from stem cells and those found in an adult brain. The scientific community discusses whether lab-grown neurons are less mature, like "infant" neurons, and may lack some receptors. The "perfect" neuron for computation is an open research question.