Technology

‘200,000 living human neurons’ on a microchip demonstrated playing Doom — Cortical Labs CL1 video shows the gameplay and explains how the neurons learn the game

Source

Tom's Hardware

Published

Mar 1, 2026

TL;DR

AI Generated

Cortical Labs showcased its CL1 biological computer, powered by around 200,000 living human neurons on a microchip, playing Doom in a video demonstration. The company's research team explained the process behind this achievement, highlighting the complexity of training neurons to learn and play the game. While the neurons have previously played Pong, tackling Doom's 3D environment and gameplay required a more advanced approach. The video emphasized the adaptive real-time learning capabilities of the neurons and the potential for training them to handle increasingly complex tasks beyond gaming. Cortical Labs invited developers and researchers to explore the open CL1 API for further innovation.

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