The race toward the first free-thinking AI may be on its last leg as scientists come closer to creating a "living computer" with a machine-programmed human brain. Now taking a giant leap further, scientists have set their goals on creating the first free-thinking machine that uses its own human-like brain.

There had been studies that indicate a general algorithm for which the human brain actually works. According to a study of Joe Tsien, a neuroscientist from the Medical College of Georgia, there is such a thing as the 'Theory of Connectivity'.

According to this theory, neurons form a "complexity of cliques to handle basic ideas or information". These cliques or clusters are called functional connectivity motifs, which are used to put together data and information. This information is then transmitted from the brain to different receivers in the body.

According to a report from Express UK, Engineers from the University of Massachusetts have used the idea of transmitting synapses to develop their innovation. A system that mimics how never cells pass messages throughout the body, a memristor may just be the next big thing in computer engineering.

Though originally just a theoretical concept, a memristor is a simple circuit which can transmit linked electric charge and magnetic flux. Engineers and scientists have been developing means to develop this technology and hopefully use it to create a computer which functions just like a human brain.

These two concepts together may just be the next big step in creating a super computer that could mimic a human brain, giving AI the ability to think for itself. Experts have been indicating that the world is reaching the new age of machinery as more and more supercomputers are being produced on a regular basis.

Just July of this year, there have been reports from BBC that scientists have created the first genetically engineered robot. A sting ray machine, as small as a tenth of a tiny fish, moves using the cells from a rat's heart.