Brain Cells in a Dish Learned to Play Pong

Just in time for spooky season, a Singularity Hub article discussed an eerie experiment in which scientists taught brain cells in a dish how to play the old school video game Pong. The Australian-led team used a series of strategically placed and timed electrical zaps to teach 800,000 neurons the game in a virtual environment. Not only did the neurons learn the game, but they improved over time showing longer rallies and fewer misses. The company behind it, Cortical Labs,  dubbed their system DishBrain, and its aim is to deconstruct, reconstruct and investigate the concept of “intelligence.”