This Startup Fused Human Brain Cells with Silicon Chips | E2295

Summary

The episode features two startup founders. Dr. Hon Weng Chong discusses Cortical Labs' CL1 biological computer that fuses human neurons with silicon, highlighting its efficiency in reinforcement learning and plans for biological data centers. Michael Norcia presents Pyka's large autonomous drones for agriculture and defense, focusing on commercial deployments in Brazil and the new hybrid-electric Drop Ship cargo UAV.

• Cortical Labs sells CL1 biological computers using lab-grown neurons on silicon chips for research and cloud access.
• CL1 neurons showed 5,000x sample efficiency over GPUs in reinforcement learning tests.
• Cortical Labs is building a biological data center in Melbourne and plans one in Singapore with Day One data center.
• Pyka is the only company deploying group-4 autonomous drones commercially at scale, primarily in Brazil for crop spraying.
• Pyka's Pelican drone offers lower operating costs (2 gal/hr vs 55 gal/hr for Air Tractor) and easier training.
• US FAA limits commercial drone ops to 4 km line-of-sight, hindering domestic scale; Pyka is working to expand approval.
• Pyka's new Drop Ship is a hybrid diesel-electric cargo UAV with 1,000-mile range and airdrop capability, designed for defense.
• Pyka vertically integrates key components and can produce NDAA-compliant versions at roughly 2x cost of Chinese-sourced parts.