Scientists Just Taught Lab-Grown Brain Cells to Play Video Games — and People Are Freaked Out
Researchers say they have successfully trained living human brain cells to play the classic video game Doom, marking the latest experiment in so-called “biological computing.”
Australian biotech company Cortical Labs announced the development in a recent demonstration showing neurons grown in a laboratory interacting with the 1993 first-person shooter.
The experiment builds on earlier work from 2022, when the company revealed that clusters of human brain cells grown in a petri dish had learned to play the much simpler video game Pong.
Those early experiments involved “mini-brains” made up of roughly 800,000 to one million living human neurons.
According to the company, the cells demonstrated the ability to adapt and learn basic tasks in real time.
Scientists have trained 200,000 human brain cells grown on a microchip to “play” the original Doom
“If the neurons fire in a specific pattern, Doomguy shoots. If they fire in another pattern, he moves right, and so on” pic.twitter.com/rOZEY3uFKh
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) March 1, 2026
Now researchers say they have taken the technology further by teaching the neurons to interact with the far more complex environment of Doom, a three-dimensional game that requires movement, targeting, and exploration.
To make the system work, engineers translated the digital signals from the game into patterns of electrical stimulation that the neurons could interpret.
“So we showed that biological neurons could play the game Pong,” Cortical Labs chief scientific officer Brett Kagan explained in a video announcement.
“This was a massive milestone because it demonstrated adaptive, real-time, goal-directed learning.”
“Doom was much more complex,” he added. “It’s 3D. It has enemies. It needs to explore, its an environment, and it’s hard.”
Nobody wants to hear this but it needs to be said.
> Scientists put human brain cells in a petri dish. No body. Just neurons on a chip.
> It learned to play DOOM in under a week.
> 800,000 neurons figured out how to navigate, shoot, and survive a video game without ever… https://t.co/RRsC0MwE1k
— Tuki (@TukiFromKL) March 7, 2026
In the system, the neurons respond to electrical signals produced by the computer. Their activity is then translated back into actions within the game.
“If the neurons fire in a specific pattern, the Doom guy shoots,” said Cortical Labs chief technology officer David Hogan.
“If they fire in another pattern, he moves right.”
The system, known as the CL1 biological computer, allows developers to interact with the living neurons through an online platform.
Researchers say the neurons are still learning. For now, they play the game roughly like a beginner who has never used a computer before.
Scientists say the technology could eventually be used to power new types of artificial intelligence systems or control advanced robotics.
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