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AIQuiet 11d · day 12

Researchers open-source fruit fly brain map; developers build wild AI projects with it

A connectome of 166,000 neurons released in early September has spawned dozens of experiments, from headline generation to stock trading.

newest coverage 11d agosummary written 11d ago4 pieces MastodonNewswiresGoogle News

What to know

  • An open-source map of a fruit fly's brain—containing 166,000 neurons and 125 million synapses—was released in early September 2026 and has become a platform for creative AI experiments.
  • Developers have used the connectome to build a range of projects: headline generation, stock trading, video games, and puzzle-solving, treating the fly brain as a simple AI system.
  • The projects are largely playful and exploratory; some, like the stock-trading fly, are losing money but spark philosophical questions about consciousness and ethics in AI systems.
  • The connectome's release demonstrates how open-sourced biological data can fuel rapid, creative development across the AI community.

“In essence, you can use it to simulate how a fly would respond to lots of stuff—it's a very simple version of artificial intelligence based on charting real biological intelligence.”

Will Knight, WIRED writer · Wired ↗ · Sep 15

Google and academic institutions Connectome developersWill Knight WIRED writerAlex Wormuth Coinbase software engineerLyra Bubbles X user / developer

Researchers open-source fruit fly brain map; developers build wild AI projects with it
Wired

How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts

Peak 2 pieces in 3h at Sep 16, 2 PM; 4 pieces over 12 days (3 articles · 1 post) Sep 15, 11 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Sep 16, 2 AM — quietSep 16, 5 AM — quietSep 16, 8 AM — quietSep 16, 11 AM — quietSep 16, 2 PM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 post — Mastodon 1, Newswires 1Sep 16, 5 PM — quietSep 16, 8 PM — quietSep 16, 11 PM — quietSep 17, 2 AM — quietSep 17, 5 AM — quietSep 17, 8 AM — quietSep 17, 11 AM — quietSep 17, 2 PM — quietSep 17, 5 PM — quietSep 17, 8 PM — quietSep 17, 11 PM — quietSep 18, 2 AM — quietSep 18, 5 AM — quietSep 18, 8 AM — quietSep 18, 11 AM — quietSep 18, 2 PM — quietSep 18, 5 PM — quietSep 18, 8 PM — quietSep 18, 11 PM — quietSep 19, 2 AM — quietSep 19, 5 AM — quietSep 19, 8 AM — quietSep 19, 11 AM — quietSep 19, 2 PM — quietSep 19, 5 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Google News 1Sep 19, 8 PM — quietSep 19, 11 PM — quietSep 20, 2 AM — quietSep 20, 5 AM — quietSep 20, 8 AM — quietSep 20, 11 AM — quietSep 20, 2 PM — quietSep 20, 5 PM — quietSep 20, 8 PM — quietSep 20, 11 PM — quietSep 21, 2 AM — quietSep 21, 5 AM — quietSep 21, 8 AM — quietSep 21, 11 AM — quietSep 21, 2 PM — quietSep 21, 5 PM — quietSep 21, 8 PM — quietSep 21, 11 PM — quietSep 22, 2 AM — quietSep 22, 5 AM — quietSep 22, 8 AM — quietSep 22, 11 AM — quietSep 22, 2 PM — quietSep 22, 5 PM — quietSep 22, 8 PM — quietSep 22, 11 PM — quietSep 23, 2 AM — quietSep 23, 5 AM — quietSep 23, 8 AM — quietSep 23, 11 AM — quietSep 23, 2 PM — quietSep 23, 5 PM — quietSep 23, 8 PM — quietSep 23, 11 PM — quietSep 24, 2 AM — quietSep 24, 5 AM — quietSep 24, 8 AM — quietSep 24, 11 AM — quietSep 24, 2 PM — quietSep 24, 5 PM — quietSep 24, 8 PM — quietSep 24, 11 PM — quietSep 25, 2 AM — quietSep 25, 5 AM — quietSep 25, 8 AM — quietSep 25, 11 AM — quietSep 25, 2 PM — quietSep 25, 5 PM — quietSep 25, 8 PM — quietSep 25, 11 PM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 5 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — quietYesterday, 11 AM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 5 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 11 PM — quietToday, 2 AM — quietToday, 5 AM — quietToday, 8 AM — quietToday, 11 AM — quietToday, 2 PM — quietToday, 5 PM — quietToday, 8 PM — quiet 1–2
Sep 16Sep 17Sep 18Sep 19Sep 20Sep 21Sep 22Sep 23Sep 24Sep 25yesterdaynow · 10:22 PM ET
  1. 1

    Developer raises philosophical questions about fly brain consciousness

    Alex Wormuth, a Coinbase software engineer behind StonkFly, reflects on the connectome project as philosophically fascinating, noting it raises ethical questions about the nature of consciousness in brain replications.

    “It sparks questions about ethics of this and whether there is any consciousness [in the replication of fly's brain].”
    — Alex Wormuth
  2. background

    Developers launch dozens of fly-brain AI experiments — Following the connectome's release, creators build multiple projects: Lyra Bubbles trained the fly to play Beat Saber in VR; Alex Wormuth created StonkFly to trade stocks using the fly brain; others taught it to play Doom, Minecraft, Pong, solve Rubik's cubes, and drive virtual cars. The stock-trading fly is losing money but performing 'surprisingly well.'

  3. 2

    WIRED writer builds PitchFly, using fly brain to generate story ideas

    Will Knight creates a project that feeds the fruit fly connectome hundreds of popular WIRED headlines from the past year, then has the fly brain generate new story pitches. Sample outputs include 'The Hidden Weather Problem Inside Surveillance' and 'Everyone Wants Cooking. Nobody Has Solved Donald Trump.'

    “He has 165,112 neurons, and they're all trained to generate story ideas.”
    — Will Knight

    1. 1 outlet first by WIRED, 8d ago · read ↗

  4. background

    Google and academic researchers open-source fruit fly connectome — Researchers release a detailed map of a male drosophila's brain, capturing 166,000 neurons and 125 million connecting synapses. The connectome allows developers to simulate how a fly responds to stimuli—a simple form of AI based on real biological intelligence.