AI Chips with Mouse Neurons Can Smell Explosives

A new type of artificial intelligence (AI) chip has been invented and some think that it might be able to revolutionize security at airports and other locations. The AI chip is based on mouse neurons and would be able to recognize the smell of explosives. Scientists behind the device think that it could be implanted into the brain of future robots that could be trained to recognize danger via odors and possibly to replace traditional airport security.

The device is called the Koniku Kore and would be able to breathe in and smell the air. The big breakthrough that allowed this device was the ability to merge lab-grown neurons with electronic circuitry. The breakthrough was made by a Nigerian neuroscientist called Oshiorenoya Agabi reports Dailymail.

According to the designer, the machine he invented can simulate the power of 204 brain neurons. “Instead of copying a neuron, why not just take the biological cell itself and use it as it is? That thought is radical. The consequence of this is mind-boggling,” Agabi said.

Agabi and his team of researchers developed their computer chip at a Silicon Valley startup called Koniku. The chip was unveiled at the TEDGlobal conference in Tanzania over the weekend. Agabi says that “major brands” have signed up , whatever signed up means, and that his startup has revenues of $8 million and those revenues are expected to leap to $30 million by 2018. The lab-grown neurons reportedly can live for two months in the device and for two years in a lab.