Open Neuron
Merging AI and neurotechnology: a brief proposalNeurotechnology initiatives at the state level
In the past decade several nation-level funding programs sought to increase neurotechnology development. Some examples are:
- BRAIN Initiative (~$4 billion to date). Launched by the U.S. government, sought to foster towards mapping the mechanisms of human brain activity comprehensively. Bottlenecks addressed included developing scalable, minimally invasive tools to record and manipulate and collection and integration of vast types of datasets from different methods. Milestones aimed for included high-resolution multi-model human brain atlas, and real-time large-scale neural recording and stimulation in humans.
- Japan's Moonshot R&D Program (~$1.4 billion to date). Focusing on overcoming biological limitations through physical, cognitive, and perceptual augmentation, with some timelines to enhance human capabilities by 2050. Key challenges are to address ethical concerns around human augmentation and integrating advanced AI, robotics, and neurointerfaces into functional systems. Key milestones focused on validating augmentation prototypes for real-world use and establishing an international regulatory framework.
Along with these, we can also count the Allen Institute for Brain Science (~$1billion over 10 years) and much smaller efforts like the International Brain Labs ($30-50million / 5 years).
Visualizing Neurotechnology Challenges
Common to all these efforts is one of the most central question in neuroscience: how do we record from more and more neurons and from increasingly more complex, i.e. natural paradigms. The key challenges in achieving such neurotechs can be captured by four visualizations.
Figure 1: We seek high-temporal and spatial scale recordings, with electrophysiology being the best candidate for achieving this.
Figure 2: We seek data from neural systems engaging in complex dynamics to test naturalism vs. bottom up approaches.
Figure 3: We seek neural recording systems that can capture most or all of the brain activity simultaneously with high temporal resolution.
Figure 4: NeuralQunta: 1um scale electrophysiology devices capture the most requirements for advancing neurotech systems.