Computers approaching human behavior. IBM invented a chip that mimics the brain

IBM, the giant American computer science, announced that it has developed a revolutionary chip that mimics the behavior of the human brain, allowing computers to learn from past experiences, develop hypotheses and draw conclusions based on results.

"It's a new frontier. No one else has done such research," said Roger Kay, Endpoint Technologies Associates from."Computers" cognitive "built with these chips are not programmed like traditional PCs today. These computers should rather learn from their experiences to find correlations to develop hypotheses and to remember, to formulate conclusions the results, thus imitating the human brain flexibility, "says the press release issued by IBM.What IBM engineers are trying to introduce the new chip is "the same kind of flexibility that is when the brain has to adapt," says Anthony Movshon, a professor of neural science at New York University."In a computer, the connections between various elements of a circuit are fixed and the programs are those that vary. In our brains, connections between different elements and circuits are modular," said Movshon.Two prototypes for this chip have already been produced and are currently being studied, said the American group. Both were engraved with thin metal wires 45 nanometers, the silicon-insulator (SOI) and contain the equivalent of 256 neurons (nerve cells).Long-term objective of the IBM group is to build a complex of compounds containing 10 billion of "neurons" still far from human brain contains 100 billion neurons. The goal is to get 100,000 billion synapses in a small space, consuming a kilowatt of electricity.

Computers that will use these chips will consume a considerable amount of energy will be much smaller and more compact compared to existing devices.Experts from IBM, a computer "cognitive" will be able, for example, trigger a tsunami warning, analyzing data from various types of marine sensors, but also on temperature, pressure and wave height. It may also help retailers to manage their stocks of fresh produce due to a sense of "smell".For the second phase of the project, called Synapse, IBM group has secured the support of several prestigious universities such as Columbia, Cornell, University of California at Los Angeles and University of Wisconsin. The project funded 21 million dollars from DARPA, the U.S. agency that funds projects in technology top the U.S. Defence Ministry.In recent years, electronic components performance doubles every approximately 18 months, but this trend seems to come to an end because of the extreme focus on the new chip transistors causes thermal emissions that are difficult to control.

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