How to test whether brain organoids possess consciousness

AI Summary

Researchers Lucia Melloni and Stanislas Dehaene propose an experimental framework for assessing whether brain organoids could exhibit intelligence or consciousness. Their article appeared in a special issue of Neuron on brain organoids.

The development of brain organoids is advancing at a breakneck pace. Researchers are creating tiny cell clusters in the lab that behave like fragments of the human brain. Whether such organoids could develop intelligence—or even consciousness—remains a matter of debate. Professor Lucia Melloni of Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and Professor Stanislas Dehaene of the Collège de France in Paris propose an experimental framework to answer this question. Their article was published in a special issue on brain organoids of the journal Neuron on Nov. 11, 2026.