Researchers in Sweden are hailing a new AI experiment as a breakthrough in understanding evolution after artificial “animals” developed functioning vision without being explicitly programmed to do so. In a synthetic, computer-generated world, these virtual creatures began with no sight at all—only crude light sensitivity. Over successive generations, shaped by digital survival pressures like navigation and food-seeking, the systems evolved increasingly complex visual structures. According to scientists at Lund University, the artificial eyes even mirrored the same developmental pathways found in real organisms, including camera-type and compound eyes.

The researchers described the results as artificial evolution “finding familiar paths,” as though nature’s solutions were being rediscovered inside code. Simple light-detecting mechanisms gradually linked to primitive decision-making systems, forming what the team described as functional vision paired with rudimentary “brains.” The project’s leaders suggest this opens the door not only to studying evolutionary theory but also to engineering future technologies that adapt, learn, and optimize themselves without direct human design. To them, this experiment represents proof that complex biological systems can emerge through selection processes alone—even in a digital universe.

SOURCE: Lund University