Cortical Labs Ships $35K Bio-Computer With Human Brain Cells For AI Research

A hot minute after the world started talking about GPU-powered neural networks, the conversation's quickly changed to neural networks powered by actual neurons. You can now order a literal bio-computer with 800,000 neurons inside, courtesy of Cortical Labs, for a cool $35,000. We talked about this topic before, but the CL1 is now commercially available and some more details have come to light.


According to the company, the CL1 is the world's first "code deployable biological computer", which we take to mean you can actually program it with more-or-less standard code. The 800,000 neurons are grown directly on the chip itself, essentially replacing transistors that would normally be present. According to IEEE Spectrum, the CL1 reduces output latency from 5ms to sub-ms levels, and increases the number of inputs from 8 to 59 compared to its earlier Pong-playing DishBrain prototype.


Cortical claims running neural networks on the CL1 is far more power-efficient than with traditional gear (read: datacenter GPUs), while also requiring minimal training data. The company says the micro-brain lives in a simulated world thanks to the originally named bIOS, which stand for for Biological Intelligence Operating System. The neurons have a 6 month shelf life, as the CL1 contains the necessary nutrients and gear to keep them alive and well.

While the $35,000 price tag is steep, it can drop down to $20,000 if you buy a rack of 30 units at once. You'll have to discuss the matter with Cortical, though, since the company reportedly wants customers to secure ethical approval for the usage of their bio-computers. Those not wanting to shell out thirty-five grand can instead rent the CL1 as a service for $300 per week, per unit.