Canadian scientists and engineers say they have developed the first true simulated brain, capable of seeing, drawing and even answering basic questions from an IQ test.

Known as Spaun (Semantic Pointer Architecture Unified Network), the artificial brain consists of 2.5 million simulated neurons. Spaun can perform up to eight different tasks, including drawing images, counting numbers and performing fluid reasoning, which is the capacity to think logically.

Spaun was developed by a group of neuroscientists and software engineers at the University of Waterloo whose next goal is to provide Spaun with adaptive plasticity, which would allow it rewire its own neurons and learn new tasks through performance instead of just programming.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Spaun, The Most Realistic Artificial Human Brain Yet (by Sebastian Anthony, Extreme Tech)

Meet Spaun, The Most Complex Simulated Brain Ever (by Rebecca Boyle, Popular Science) 

A Large-Scale Model of the Functioning Brain (by Chris Eliasmith, Terrence C. Stewart, Xuan Choo, Trevor Bekolay, Travis DeWolf, Charlie Tang and Daniel Rasmussen, Science) (pdf)