How scientists are growing computers from human brain cells – and why they want to keep doing it

A microelectrode array covered with neurons. Bram Servais

As prominent artificial intelligence (AI) researchers eye limits to the current phase of the technology, a different approach is gaining attention: using living human brain cells as computational hardware.

These “biocomputers” are still in their early days. They can play simple games such as Pong, and perform basic speech recognition.