# 149. Reverse Engineering The Brain With AI

- Show: [The Next Byte Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast)
- Published: 2023-11-21
- Length: 24m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai
- Listen: https://the-next-byte-wevolver.simplecast.com/episodes/149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai-MX_pGRTI

## Summary

Hosts Daniel and Forbode discuss MIT researchers' development of 'Smart EM,' an AI-integrated scanning electron microscope that accelerates connectomics by autonomously identifying regions of interest in brain tissue. They explain how the system reduces the time to map 100,000 neurons from over a decade to under three months, drawing parallels to human visual attention and Elon Musk’s first-principles approach to material science. The hosts also read a listener shout-out from AI architect Bruno Marquier and announce an upcoming interview episode.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai#t=0) Introduction and Sponsor Read
- [2:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai#t=166) Connectomics and the Brain Mapping Challenge
- [5:37](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai#t=337) The Bottleneck of Manual Image Acquisition
- [7:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai#t=435) Smart EM: AI-Controlled Electron Microscopy
- [9:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai#t=560) Analogy to Human Visual Attention
- [11:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai#t=662) Impact: 40x Speedup and Cost Analysis
- [14:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai#t=891) Future Implications and First Principles
- [20:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai#t=1256) Listener Shout-out and Episode Preview

## Topics

- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Sensors & measurement in products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sensors)
- [Medical & health devices](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/medical-devices)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- MIT (company)
- Mouser Electronics (company)
- Smart EM (product)
- Tesla (company)
- Elon Musk (other)
- Bruno Marquier (other)
- Wevolver (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Intel’s Hamster | Conferences To Go | Apollo 13 in Real Time](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2020-03-27-intels-hamster-conferences-to-go-apollo-13-in-real-time) (EE Times Current)
- [When your headphones listen to you with Ramses Alcaide of Neurable](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-08-31-when-your-headphones-listen-to-you-with-ramses-alcaide-of-neurable) (How I Built This)
- [Ep 291: Walking in Space, Lead in the Earth, and Atoms under the DIY MIcroscope](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2024-10-04-ep-291-walking-in-space-lead-in-the-earth-and-atoms-under-the-diy-microscope) (Hackaday Podcast)
- [Ep 188: Zapping Cockroaches, Tricking AIs, Antique 3D Scanning, and Grinding Chips to QFN](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2022-10-07-ep-188-zapping-cockroaches-tricking-ais-antique-3d-scanning-and-grinding-chips-t) (Hackaday Podcast)
- [Ep028: Brain Skepticism Turned Up to 11,  Web Browsing in '69,  Verilog For 7400 Logic](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-07-26-ep028-brain-skepticism-turned-up-to-11-web-browsing-in-69-verilog-for-7400-logic) (Hackaday Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-11-21-149-reverse-engineering-the-brain-with-ai. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Next Byte Podcast.