A team at Cortical Labs has successfully trained living human brain cells to play the classic video game Doom. The cells, grown on a specialized chip called CL1, learned to navigate the game's 3D environment and shoot enemies through electrical stimulation. This breakthrough demonstrates that biological neurons can process complex visual information and make decisions in real-time.

Cortical Labs developed this system by growing human neurons on microelectrode arrays that can both stimulate and record neural activity. The neurons received visual input from the game and learned to control movement through electrical signals. Over time, the cells improved their performance, showing they could adapt to the game's challenges. This represents a significant step in merging biological and silicon computing.

The achievement has profound implications for neuroscience and computing. It shows that biological neurons can perform tasks traditionally reserved for artificial neural networks. Researchers believe this could lead to more efficient, adaptive computing systems that combine the best of biological and digital processing. The work also provides insights into how neurons learn and process information in complex environments.