IBM To Develop Computer With Brain-Like Tendencies
The U.S. government and IBM have announced a collaborative effort to develop computers that mimic brain functions such as decision-making or image recognition.
The so-called “cognitive computing” project combines the efforts of neurobiologists, computer and materials scientists, as well as psychologists. The project has received a $4.9 million grant from US defense agency DARPA in order to create technology capable of large-scale data analysis.
IBM, along with Stanford University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, Columbia University Medical Center and the University of California-Merced, announced the DARPA grant on Thursday.
"The mind has an amazing ability to integrate ambiguous information across the senses, and it can effortlessly create the categories of time, space, object, and interrelationship from the sensory data," says Dharmendra Modha, the IBM scientist who is heading the collaboration.
"There are no computers that can even remotely approach the remarkable feats the mind performs," he said.
"The key idea of cognitive computing is to engineer mind-like intelligent machines by reverse engineering the structure, dynamics, function and behavior of the brain."
Researchers will combine cutting-edge nanoscale technology and IBM’s BlueGene supercomputers, to begin the work of building a machine capable of cognitive thinking.
The longer-term goal is to create a system with the level of complexity of a cat’s brain.
"The end goal: ubiquitously deployed computers imbued with a new intelligence that can integrate information from a variety of sensors and sources, deal with ambiguity, respond in a context-dependent way, learn over time and carry out pattern recognition to solve difficult problems based on perception, action and cognition in complex, real-world environments," said an IBM statement.
Computer scientists hope to use information gathered by neuroscientists about the inner workings of neurons and the synapses that connect them in order to create a computer that can do more than just store data, but can actually decipher certain information and help users make a more informed decision.
Modha led a team that last year used the BlueGene supercomputer to simulate a mouse’s brain, comprising 55 million neurons and some half a trillion synapses.
"But the real challenge is then to manifest what will be learned from future simulations into real electronic devices – nanotechnology," Modha said.
"We are attempting a 180 degree shift in perspective: seeking an algorithm first, problems second. We are investigating core micro- and macro-circuits of the brain that can be used for a wide variety of functionalities."
The fundamental shift toward putting the problem-solving before the problem makes the potential applications for such devices practically limitless.
"Nanotechnology is becoming sophisticated, to the point where designing and manufacturing atomic-scale neurological components are a real possibility," Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Research, wrote in a research note.
This is no simple task, and it is understandably (and financially) infeasible to deploy BlueGene/L supercomputing systems as ‘global brains.’ Instead, the success of cognitive computing will require novel, even unique computing architectures and programming tools."
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