One of IBM’s prototype cognitive computing chips

What’s the News: Researchers at IBM have developed a new “cognitive computing” microchip inspired by the brain’s computational tricks. These new chips, the researchers say, could make processors that are more powerful and more efficient than today’s computers—and better at the flexible learning and responses that are a struggle for current AI systems but a breeze for the human brain.

How the Heck:

IBM has made two prototypes of the new chip, which it calls a “neurosynaptic core.” Both are built on a standard semiconductor platform with 256 “neurons,” the chip’s computational components. RAM units on the chip act as synapses; one of the chips has 262,144 synapses, while the other has 65,536.
These networks take after the brain in two key ways, says Dharmendra Modha, the project leader at IBM. The hardware for memory and computation are quite close together (as they are in the brain, where neurons are responsible for both) and the connections between them form, strengthen, and weaken based on learning and experience, just like synapses between neurons.
Other than that, the researchers haven’t yet shared many specifics on how the ...