Merging Man and Machine : Semi-Biological AI in Future Combat Robots

In Australia, the development of the Dishbrain biochip is of great interest to the military. Mixed with AI, this chip powered by human brain cells could well revolutionize machine learning and create real autonomous killer robots, thinking like humans.

Artificial intelligence and robots will be at the heart of future conflicts. More than cyborgs, we will undoubtedly see autonomous killer robots equipped with semi-biological artificial intelligence. It will help them learn better from their combat experiences to refine their decisions in the face of new situations. And it's not really science fiction anymore, since there is already a computer chip mixing human and animal brain cells and micro-electrodes. Created by Monash University in Australia, this chip is called the Dishbrain. It comprises 800,000 human and mouse brain cells cultured in the laboratory in a bath of electrodes. Last year, this system was able to teach itself to play Pong in five minutes. Still a long way from the killer robot thinking like a human, the activity of these brain cells could both be read and stimulated with electrical signals. To reinforce their learning, the cells were rewarded with a pleasant stimulus when they successfully hit the ball.

Biochips to improve robot thinking

By merging this system with AIs, this semi-biological chip could revolutionize machine learning. Machines could then learn new abilities by using their old experiences to learn from them and optimize their reactions to new situations. Likewise, with this capacity, these chips could make processing, memory management and energy more efficient. This artificial intelligence, capable of learning like humans do, could be used for everything related to autonomous vehicles, drones and robots. A capacity that is of great interest to the military and in particular the Australian defense which has just funded this research program conducted in partnership with the Melbourne start-up Cortical Labs. This investment will now allow the lab to resize the chip, with the ultimate ambition of replacing silicon chips with their biological equivalent. For the country, the results of this work could give Australia a significant strategic advantage in many areas, from the military to brain-machine interfaces, and even pharmaceutical research.