--- title: "DARPA Wants to Build Conscious Robots Using Insect Brains" description: "The Pentagon's emerging technologies unit put out a call last week for proposals that use insect brains to control robots." date: "2019-01-12" modified: "2019-01-12" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/darpa-wants-conscious-robots-insect-brains" categories: - "Brain" - "DARPA" - "Health & Medicine" - "Military" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "artificial intelligence" - "Cognition" - "DARPA" - "insects" --- # DARPA Wants to Build Conscious Robots Using Insect Brains ![The Pentagon's emerging technologies unit put out a call last week for proposals that use insect brains to control robots.]() *\Image: Egor Kamelev/Jon Christian\* ## Insect Brains The Pentagon's emerging technologies unit [put out a call]() last week for proposals that use insect brains to control robots — because they could be used to create efficient new models for artificial intelligence, but also because they could be used to explore the meaning of consciousness. "Nature has forced on these small insects drastic miniaturization and energy efficiency, some having only a few hundred neurons in a compact form-factor, while maintaining basic functionality," reads [a document]() in the proposal. "Furthermore, these organisms are possibly able to display increased subjectivity of experience." It goes on to say that there's evidence suggesting that "even small insects have subjective experiences, the first step towards a concept of 'consciousness.'" ## Bug Hunt The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is famed for funding projects that [led to the early internet](). But it's also a well-funded research arm for the U.S. military — and one of its key areas of interest, according to a [riveting *Atlantic* feature]() this past autumn, is to create brain-computer interfaces that can "program soldiers' brains." The feature suggested broad interest at DARPA in technologies that bridge the gap between computers and the brains of humans and animals. "They could inject memory using the precise neural codes for certain skills," Justin Sanchez, who directs work at DARPA about research on healing the mind and body, told the magazine about a project that had transplanted memories into the brains of rats. "If I know the neural codes in one individual, could I give that neural code to another person? I think you could." ## Moon Shot DARPA is offering $1 million to the company it awards the insect brain proposal to. First the winning bidder will need to complete a feasibility study on mapping an insect's central intelligence system. Then it will need to create a "proof of concept" platform that uses the insect brain architecture to create "more capable AI hardware." It sounds like a long shot — at least for now. But it's another sign that DARPA is deeply interested in the mysteries of cognition and consciousness. **READ MORE:** [DARPA Wants to Turn Insect Brains into Robot Brains]() \[*Popular Science*\] ***More on insect brains:*** *[A New Brain-Interface Device Lets You Control Animals With Your Thoughts]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()