As a class of artificial materials possessing extraordinary properties that not found in natural matters, metamaterials offer a technological pathway for reconstruction of matters to get "artificial matters". These highly functional and designable artificial matters provide more ideal physical carriers for the implementation of various types of artificial intelligence and open up new possibilities for the realization of corporeal artificial lives. Based on exploring the relationship of matter, intelligence, and life systems, this commentary reviews the applications of metamaterials in various artificial intelligence systems, especially the research progress in high-performance optical computing and embodied intelligence, and analyzes the feasibility of constructing artificial lives with metamaterial strategies.

metamaterial  /  AI  /  optical computing  /  embodied intelligence  /  self-replicating machine