{
  "id": 9143593,
  "title": "AI Models Built From Rat Brains Just Got Closer to Reality",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/22/ai-models-built-from-rat-brains-just-got-closer-to-reality-9143593",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-22T13:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Wired",
    "slug": "wired",
    "url": "https://www.wired.com/story/ai-models-built-from-rat-brains-are-about-to-become-a-reality/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Starting Tuesday, a select group of Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers will have access to the \"rat brain\" AI model developed by The Biological Computing Company (TBC) through a limited preview. The technology, designed to enhance AI video generation, is expected to be made available to all AWS enterprise customers in the near future. According to TBC cofounder Alexander Ksendzovsky, the company \"coded information, like images,\" into biological material and then observed its processing. This is not TBC's first biologically-inspired computing platform; Amazon also partners with Cortical Labs, an Australia-based firm that combines lab-grown neurons with silicon chips for data processing. TBC's approach to AI is considered pragmatic by Amazon, focusing on efficiency improvements to existing visual models rather than reinventing the transformer architecture. The Biological Computing Company, founded four years ago by neuroscientists and neurosurgeons Alexander Ksendzovsky and Jon Pomeraniec, has raised over $50 million in funding from investors like Primary Venture Partners. The startup's research involves placing rat and human brain cells on multi-electrode silicon arrays, which they then stimulate and record the neurons' responses. This neural activity is analyzed for computational patterns that can be translated into software to enhance AI models, particularly video generation. TBC chose to focus on video generation initially due to the compatibility of the multi-electrode arrays with visual information. The company claims that its AI model is up to five times faster and significantly more cost-effective than open-source AI video models, although the specific comparison remains undisclosed. While Amazon sees potential in TBC's technology, there are concerns about its scalability, particularly in maintaining consistency over longer video durations.",
  "summary": "The Biological Computing Company is bringing its AI tools to Amazon Web Services in a major boost for a once-fringe field that aims to marry nature with code.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Wired Business",
        "title": "AI Models Built From Rat Brains Just Got Closer to Reality",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/22/ai-models-built-from-rat-brains-just-got-closer-to-reality",
        "published": "2026-09-22T13:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}