IBM Mimics Brain in Quest for Cognitive Computing

In the US, IBM has unveiled a series of computer chips that imitate how the human brain processes information, in an attempt to create a computer that can understand its surroundings and make sense of complex data.

IBM is combining principles from nanoscience, neuroscience and 'supercomputing' as part of a multi-year cognitive computing initiative, designed to create a system that not only analyzes complex information from multiple sensory sources, but also re-wires itself as it interacts with its environment.

The chips won't be programmed in the same way computers are today, but 'cognitive computers' will be expected to find correlations, create hypotheses and learn from the outcomes.

IBM Research Project Leader Dharmendra Modha says that making sense of real-time input flowing at an 'ever-dizzying rate' would be a Herculean task for today's computers, but would be natural for a brain-inspired system.

'Future applications of computing will increasingly demand functionality that is not efficiently delivered by the traditional architecture,' Modha states. 'These chips are a significant step in the evolution of computers from calculators to learning systems, signalling the beginning of a new generation of computers and their applications in business, science and government.'

IBM and its four university collaborators have been awarded c. $21m in new funding from the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the second phase of the initiative, known as the 'Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) project.

Web site: www.ibm.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.