---
id: "entity-dishbrain"
type: "entity"
entityType: "product"
canonicalName: "DishBrain"
aliases: []
source_timestamps: ["§ Artificial Intelligence Meets Organoid Intelligence"]
tags: ["biological-computer", "organoid"]
related: ["entity-cortical-labs", "concept-organoid-intelligence"]
sources: ["futures"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-futures"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-foci-73-living-intelligence"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/01/why-living-intelligence-is-the-next-big-thing"
sourceTitle: "Why “Living Intelligence” Is the Next Big Thing"
---
# DishBrain

**DishBrain** is a miniature organoid brain created by [[entity-cortical-labs|Cortical Labs]] in **2021**. It consists of approximately **1 million live human and mouse brain cells** grown on a **microelectric array**, and it was successfully taught to play the 1980s video game **Pong** by receiving and responding to electrical signals indicating the ball's location.

**Role in this source:** The canonical public example of [[concept-organoid-intelligence|Organoid Intelligence]] — biological computation in a closed-loop system.

> *Enrichment caveat:* Broadly supported, but the phrasing "cells played Pong" compresses a technically nuanced experiment. The real result is **adaptive behavior in a closed-loop feedback system**, not human-like game understanding. Cultured neurons on a multielectrode array adapted to a Pong-like task through feedback.

> *Canonical reference (enrichment):* Cortical Labs / DishBrain publication and related reporting.