This Startup Fused Human Brain Cells with Silicon Chips | E2295

June 1, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

🎙️ The Speakers & Context

The Format: This is a host discussion. Alex Wilhelm (of This Week in Startups) interviews two founders.
The Key Players:
- Han (Cortical Labs): CEO of a startup fusing human neurons with silicon chips. Credible due to shipping the CL1 product and building the "world's first biological data center."
- Michael Norcher (Pika): Founder of a drone company building large, autonomous aircraft for agriculture and logistics. Credible due to commercial deployments in Brazil and a rapid prototype-to-market cycle.
The Vibe: Reflective and speculative. Alex acts as a curious, slightly skeptical futurist, pushing founders on the ethical and commercial implications of their tech.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **🎙️ Introduction: Han (Cortical Labs) & Cortical Labs Update**
2 (01:50) **CL1 Product Market Performance & Physical Demo**
3 (06:15) **Neuron Capacity, Analogies, and Biological vs. Silicon Intelligence**
4 (10:52) **Breakthrough: 5,000x Sample Efficiency in Reinforcement Learning**
5 (12:38) **The World's First Biological Data Center & Singapore Expansion**
6 (15:42) **Feeding Neurons & The Path Forward (Algorithms vs. Hardware)**
7 (18:37) **Ethics, Religion, and the "No Consciousness" Red Line**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Deel https://deel.com/twist

Quo https://quo.com/TWiST

LinkedIn Jobs https://LinkedIn.com/twist

Today’s show:

Cortical Labs is the world’s first company selling biological computers. Their CL1 fuses lab-grown human neurons (derived from stem cells, not actual folks) with silicon hardware to create Synthetic Biological Intelligence (SBI).

Founder Dr. Hon Weng Chong walks us through how the system works and why neurons are more efficient than GPUs at reinforcement learning. (Also… is this computer alive?)

PLUS Pyka co-founder and CEO Michael Norcia explains the various uses for his autonomous aircraft, from crop-spraying drones in Brazil to a a hybrid-electric defense UAV for the military.

Guests:

Cortical Labs: ****https://corticallabs.com/

Dr. Hon Weng Chong on X: https://x.com/dr1337

Pyka: https://www.flypyka.com/

Pyka on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flypyka/?hl=en

Further Reading:

2022 Pong paper in Neuron: https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(22)00806-6

2017 Paper: “Attention is All You Need”; https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762

The “Barista Test” for Artificial Intelligence: Chris Rourk: https://medium.com/predict/the-turing-test-is-so-last-century-the-barista-test-for-artificial-general-intelligence-faf91034fa8c

Notable Links:

Playing “DOOM” on CL1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRV8fSw6HaE

DayOne Data Center: https://dayonedc.com/