Chemical Neural Networks and Semantic Information Investigated Through Synthetic Cells

In a previous contribution we briefly sketched novel topics that lie at the interface between synthetic biology (SB) and artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, we discussed (a) the possibility of engrafting chemical AI-like tools in bottom-up synthetic cell systems, and (b) the investigation of fundamental concepts of information theory – such as the “semantic” information – by means of synthetic cells. Here we intend to report on the progress done by our groups in these fields and shortly devise future steps for theoretical and experimental approaches.