Australian Scientists Train Lab-Grown Brain Cells to Play Doom

Australian researchers have trained living human brain cells grown on a silicon chip to play the iconic 1990s video game “Doom,” marking another step in the growing field of biological computing.

The work comes from biotech company Cortical Labs, which has been developing technology that blends living neurons with computer systems. Researchers say the experiment highlights the potential of brain-based computing and points to future uses extending far beyond gaming.

Each biological computer developed by Cortical Labs contains roughly 200,000 living human brain cells. The neurons are grown from stem cells created using blood donations and are placed on a silicon chip known as the CL1.

The neurons had previously learned to play the simple arcade game “Pong,” where players move a paddle to bounce a ball across the screen. Training the cells to handle “Doom,” a fast-paced three-dimensional shooter that requires movement, navigation and targeting enemies, presented a much tougher challenge.

“At first, the neurons behaved like someone who had never played a video game before,” said Alon Loeffler, senior application scientist at Cortical Labs.

Researchers observed the neurons struggling with the game environment, often walking into walls, shooting aimlessly and making erratic movements. Over time, however, the cells began responding more effectively to the game’s challenges.

“They were walking into walls a lot, shooting the walls, turning around and doing funny things like that,” Loeffler said. “Then eventually they started targeting the enemies more regularly and correctly.”

The gameplay remains far from perfect. In demonstrations, enemies often require several attempts to defeat as the system fires in different directions before landing successful shots. Still, researchers say the progress shows that neurons can adapt to changing conditions and learn through real-time feedback.

To make the game understandable to the cells, scientists translated the digital environment into electrical signals. Electrodes on the CL1 chip stimulate neurons when events occur inside the game, such as an enemy appearing. The resulting neural activity produces responses including movement and firing weapons.

Scientists monitor these electrical patterns on connected computers and adjust the stimulation process to guide learning.

Cortical Labs believes the technology has applications well beyond entertainment. Chief scientific and operations officer Brett Kagan said neural cultures on the CL1 have already been explored for robotics, disease modelling, drug screening and medical research, including personalized medicine.

Kagan described the system as a potentially more efficient form of intelligence. The human brain operates using about 20 watts of power, far less than modern artificial intelligence systems and conventional silicon computing.

The neurons currently survive for about six months and do not yet deliver fully reliable or programmable outcomes. Even so, industry analysts see promise in their energy efficiency.

“This isn’t wacky science or some bunch of scammers. This is real science and it’s making real progress,” said William Keating, chief executive of semiconductor research company Ingenuity.