Scientists have 3D printed the world's first physical neural network – Fanatical Futurist by International Keynote Speaker Matthew Griffin

Recently a team of researchers in the US revolutionised artificial intelligence when they made the world's first neural network made from DNA, or "AI in a test tube," and now a team of electrical and computer engineers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have announced they've 3D printed the world's first physical Artificial Intelligence (AI) neural network that uses light, and not electrons like it's traditional computer cousins, to analyse large volumes of data and identify objects. Additionally though because the new neural network uses light to work, and not electrons, it's passive and doesn't need any external power source to work. Numerous devices in everyday life today use computerised cameras to identify objects -- think of automated teller machines that can "read" handwritten dollar amounts when you deposit a check, or internet search engines that can quickly match photos to other similar images in their databases. But those systems rely on a piece of equipment to image the object, first by "seeing" it with a camera or optical sensor, then processing what it sees into data, and finally using computing programs to figure out what it is, and this is where the UCLA developed device gets a head start. Called a "Diffractive neural network," it uses the light bouncing from the object itself to identify that object in as little time as it would take for a computer to simply "see" the object.