DeepMind unveils virtual rat with artificial brain that is ‘evolutionary marvel’

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Google’s AI division DeepMind has unveiled a groundbreaking computerised rat that is able to move around like a real rodent through an artificial brain. Google DeepMind used movement data from real rats to simulate virtual rats equipped with artificial brains The high-resolution data was used to train an artificial neural network that served as the rat’s brain within a physics simulator that mimics the effects of gravity and other real-world forces. “DeepMind had developed a pipeline to train biochemical agents to move around complex environments,” said Bence Ölveczky, a professor at Harvard’s Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, who led the researchers collaborating with DeepMind. “It seemed plausible that taking this same approach in a neuroscience context might be useful for providing insights in both behaviour and brain function.” Details of the virtual rat were published in the scientific journal Nature on Tuesday, in a study titled ‘A virtual rodent predicts the structure of neural activity across behaviours’.