Microsoft recently announced a partnership with Swiss startup inait to deploy a novel AI model. This model, which simulates the reasoning capabilities of mammalian brains, aims to advance technology across various sectors, including financial trading and robotics. This collaboration stems from two decades of digital neuroscience research, focusing on leveraging bio-inspired intelligence to enhance AI performance.
Richard Frey, CEO of inait (founded in 2018), stated that the company's founding principle is based on the belief that "the brain is the only proven form of intelligence." He highlighted that understanding brain mechanisms enables the development of a fundamentally new and powerful type of AI. inait currently focuses on providing industry-specific solutions, building "digital brains" of varying scales and types to address significant industry challenges.
Officially launched this past Tuesday, the Microsoft-inait partnership will integrate inait's technology into Microsoft's existing AI models. In finance, the collaboration will concentrate on developing advanced trading algorithms, risk management tools, and personalized recommendations. In robotics, the focus will be on creating industrial robots capable of adapting to complex environments.
Adir Ron, Microsoft's Director of Cloud and AI Startups for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, described inait as pioneering a new AI paradigm, shifting from traditional data-driven models towards "digital brains" capable of true cognition. This partnership reflects the strong interest from academia and industry in neuroscience and the potential for improving AI through inspiration from the human brain.
inait's technology foundation originates from a twenty-year Swiss government-funded research project dedicated to creating biologically accurate digital brain replicas. Henry Markram, a co-founder of the project, noted that the project utilized 18 million lines of computer code to develop brain simulations, primarily focusing on the mouse brain, but the methodology is applicable to various species.
Markram indicated that AI models based on brain simulations are expected to be more energy-efficient than existing deep reinforcement learning models and possess faster learning speeds. These models continue learning post-deployment, although the complexity of building a human brain replica remains a significant technological hurdle.
Furthermore, the simulation technology developed by the Swiss project has been made available to researchers through the non-profit Open Brain Institute, offering opportunities for customized simulations. This facilitates better research into neurological disorders such as autism. Researchers hope to leverage this technology, combined with the latest fruit fly brain map results, to further refine the connectome, enabling a deeper understanding of brain function.
Key Highlights:
🧠 Microsoft partners with Swiss startup inait to advance brain-simulated AI technology.
💻 A novel AI model simulates mammalian brain reasoning capabilities for applications in finance and robotics.
🔍 inait's technology is based on 20 years of research, aiming to create more efficient intelligent behavior.