How AI can help uncover the way memory works

A symphony of electrical signals and a dynamic tangle of connections between brain cells help us to make new memories. Using AI-powered models of groups of neurons, FMI researchers are working towards unlocking how the brain orchestrate this dance. Their latest study has achieved a major advance in accurately simulating the changes in the connections between neurons that sense the external environment, opening the door to a greater understanding of how countless brain cells transform sensations into perceptions and thoughts. Eventually, AI-powered tools may help to illuminate some of the workings of real brains. Over the past few years, artificial intelligence — or AI — has started to revolutionize the world as we know it: some people now ask AI-based chatbots to write essays and summarize documents, others use AI-powered virtual assistants to send messages and control smart-home devices, others leverage the technology for drug discovery and development. Computational neuroscientist Friedemann Zenke uses AI to interrogate how the brain works. In a study published today in Nature Neuroscience , researchers led by Friedemann Zenke investigated how specific groups of neurons adjust their connections in response to external stimuli.