Australian company Cortical Labs has unveiled the world’s first commercial biocomputer, CL1, built on human neurons. It combines 800,000 lab-grown neurons capable of learning and processing information in real time.
CL1 uses living cells reprogrammed from skin or blood samples from donors and able to remain viable for up to six months thanks to a life support system. According to the developers, the technology allows studying the brain at the level of individual neural networks, which opens up new possibilities for modeling diseases such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease.
CL1’s technology is based on an earlier DishBrain prototype that was taught to play Pong. The new version has reduced signal latency, increased the number of inputs, and added a cell life support system.
The $35,000 computer is designed for research in neuroscience, pharmacology, and artificial intelligence. The first 115 of these models will go on sale in the summer of 2025. A cloud version of the service is also available for $300 per week.
