In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world

Brett J Kagan; Andy C Kitchen; Nhi T Tran; Forough Habibollahi; Moein Khajehnejad; Bradyn J Parker; Anjali Bhat; Ben Rollo; Adeel Razi; Karl J Friston

doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.001

In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world

Neuron. 2022 Dec 7;110(23):3952-3969.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.001. Epub 2022 Oct 12.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Cortical Labs, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: brett@corticallabs.com.
² Cortical Labs, Melbourne, Australia.
³ The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
⁵ Department of Data Science and AI, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁷ Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
⁸ Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁹ Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK; Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia; Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia; CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars Program, CIFAR, Toronto, Canada.

Abstract

Integrating neurons into digital systems may enable performance infeasible with silicon alone. Here, we develop DishBrain, a system that harnesses the inherent adaptive computation of neurons in a structured environment. In vitro neural networks from human or rodent origins are integrated with in silico computing via a high-density multielectrode array. Through electrophysiological stimulation and recording, cultures are embedded in a simulated game-world, mimicking the arcade game "Pong." Applying implications from the theory of active inference via the free energy principle, we find apparent learning within five minutes of real-time gameplay not observed in control conditions. Further experiments demonstrate the importance of closed-loop structured feedback in eliciting learning over time. Cultures display the ability to self-organize activity in a goal-directed manner in response to sparse sensory information about the consequences of their actions, which we term synthetic biological intelligence. Future applications may provide further insights into the cellular correlates of intelligence.

Keywords: cell culture; electrophysiology; free energy principle; intelligence; in vitro; learning; microphysiological systems; neurocomputation; neurons; synthetic biological intelligence.