If you think the latest burst in AI development is an exotic state of computing — with its big, buzzy acronyms like Large Language Model (LLM), Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), and more — think again. It hardly gets more exotic than human brain cells that can interface with electronics — and AI agents — whilst floating in a Petri dish. Yet that's exactly what an Australian team, associated with Monash University and Cortical Labs, achieved last year when they introduced their DishBrain concept.
Apparently, the concept and promise of the team's work struck a chord with the military and its attractiveness as a research venue even has a dollar value attached — thanks to a US $407,000 military investment into the research courtesy of Australia's ONI (Office of National Intelligence).
