15 lab-grown brains linked into a hive mind — and split the work themselves

Australia's Cortical Labs unveiled HIVE this week at the first International Conference on Organoid Intelligence in the US: 15 of its CL1 biological computers — each powered by lab-grown human neurons on a chip — linked together so the cultures work as one system.

The linked brains did something nobody taught them: they divided different parts of a task between themselves and settled on the most efficient way to finish it. Cortical Labs says the point is reliability — a single culture can be flaky, but a hive of them is more consistent and resilient — and the company is pitching the same principle that brains and beehives already use: many small workers, one shared outcome.