Updated
Updated · WIRED · Sep 22
AWS Opens Limited Preview of TBC's Rat-Brain AI Model, Claiming 5x Faster Video Generation
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Sep 22

AWS Opens Limited Preview of TBC's Rat-Brain AI Model, Claiming 5x Faster Video Generation

2 articles · Updated · WIRED · Sep 22

Summary

  • Select AWS customers can access The Biological Computing Company’s biologically derived video model from Tuesday in a limited preview, with Amazon and TBC aiming for a broader enterprise rollout soon.
  • TBC says the software learns from neural responses in rat brain cells mapped to images, then mimics those processing patterns to make existing video-generation models more efficient.
  • The startup claims the model runs up to five times faster than the open-source frontier video system it builds on and cuts inference costs; until now, it was available only through Bluesky Compute.
  • Amazon said TBC appealed because it works within current generative-AI standards rather than replacing transformer architectures, though AWS also flagged unanswered questions about scaling to long-form video without losing fidelity.
  • Baltimore-based TBC has raised more than $50 million this year, including an unreported $25 million round after March, as biological computing gains traction despite the complexity of running live-cell labs.

Insights

Could integrating living rat brain cells into cloud computing be the ultimate key to unlocking faster, cheaper AI video generation?
If biological computing slashes AI costs, will enterprise data centers soon require life support systems for living processors?
How long until the software optimizing our digital world becomes conscious, given it relies on living animal neurons?