IBM have announced the creation of two experimental chips by it researchers that are structured more like a human brain than a computer chip as we know it today. IBM are calling the new chips an "unprecedented” step forward in creating intelligent computers and is hoping the new experimental chips will become the building blocks for it to develop cognitive computing.

In developing these new chips IBM is hoping to create technology that more closely emulates human behaviours in the way they learn and take action. Providing the chips with the ability to be able to make decisions by processing immense amounts of data. "We aren’t there yet, but before long these chips will be able to rewire themselves on the fly,” says Dharmendra Modha, an I.B.M. researcher.

Both of the new chips developed by IBM have 256 neurons; one of them has 262,144 of what the company calls programmable synapses, while the other has 65,536 "learning” synapses. Just like the how our brains work the synapse establishes connections between digital neurons, and the more signals that are sent to a synapse, the stronger that synapse becomes.

"In today’s computers, there are some key fundamental limitations that are projected to come to an end,” – "The ever-increasing clock rates are unsustainable. In contrast, the brain is an ultimate computer.” - ”We now have the seeds of a new architecture that can allow us to mine the boundary between the physical and the digital world in an ever more efficient way,”

Lets just hope they have seen the Terminator films, and implant a power off switch that is easy to access.

Source: PC World : International Business Times