Living cells and biological mechanisms as prototypes for developing chemical artificial intelligence

• Published in: Biochemical and biophysical research communications Vol. 720; p. 150060
• Main Authors: Gentili, Pier Luigi, Stano, Pasquale
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 06.08.2024
• Subjects: Artificial Cells - chemistry; Artificial Intelligence; Chemical AI; Chemical neural networks; chemistry; computer software; Humans; Molecular computing; Molecular fuzzy sets; nanomedicine; Neural Networks, Computer; Neuromorphic engineering; Synthetic cell; Chemical AI; Neuromorphic engineering; Chemical neural networks; Molecular computing; Molecular fuzzy sets; Synthetic cell
• ISSN: 0006-291X; 1090-2104; 1090-2104
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2024.150060

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is having a revolutionary impact on our societies. It is helping humans in facing the global challenges of this century. Traditionally, AI is developed in software or through neuromorphic engineering in hardware. More recently, a brand-new strategy has been proposed. It is the so-called Chemical AI (CAI), which exploits molecular, supramolecular, and systems chemistry in wetware to mimic human intelligence. In this work, two promising approaches for boosting CAI are described. One regards designing and implementing neural surrogates that can communicate through optical or chemical signals and give rise to networks for computational purposes and to develop micro/nanorobotics. The other approach concerns “bottom-up synthetic cells” that can be exploited for applications in various scenarios, including future nano-medicine. Both topics are presented at a basic level, mainly to inform the broader audience of non-specialists, and so favour the rise of interest in these frontier subjects. •Chemical AI for the colonization of the molecular world.•Chemical neural surrogates mimic the dynamics of real neurons.•Neural surrogates in wetware synchronize through physicochemical signals.•Simple cell-like systems can be constructed by bottom-up synthetic biology approaches.•Chemical AI modules need to be implanted in synthetic cells to control their behavior.