--- title: "Neurosurgeons' video model built on Alibaba's Wan lists at half a cent a second on fal and OpenRouter" description: "Two neurosurgeons shipped the cheapest image-to-video model on fal and OpenRouter at half a cent a second, claiming living-neuron research made an Alibaba model five times faster. The platform hosting it just had its founder beg publicly for scarce GPUs." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Model" published: 2026-10-31T21:03:46.653Z modified: 2026-10-31T21:03:46.653Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/neurosurgeons-video-model-built-on-alibaba-s-wan-lists-at-half-a-cent-a-second-on-fal-and-openrouter language: en keywords: "AI Video, Model Pricing, Open Weights, Fal, OpenRouter" --- # Neurosurgeons' video model built on Alibaba's Wan lists at half a cent a second on fal and OpenRouter > Two neurosurgeons shipped the cheapest image-to-video model on fal and OpenRouter at half a cent a second, claiming living-neuron research made an Alibaba model five times faster. The platform hosting it just had its founder beg publicly for scarce GPUs. Two neurosurgeons in San Francisco put a working product on the shelves of [fal](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/fal) and OpenRouter, an open marketplace for routing AI models, on October 30, 2026, and [priced it at the bottom of every list it sits on](https://thenextweb.com/news/tbc-mischief-neuron-derived-ai-video-model) [1][2]. TBC Mischief 1, an image-to-video model from The Biological Computing Co., starts at $0.005 per second of video at 480p, and $0.01 per second at 720p [1][5]. A five-second clip costs 2.5 cents at the low tier [1][5]. The company calls it the cheapest image-to-video model on both platforms [1][2]. [OpenRouter's own listing](https://openrouter.ai/tbc/mischief-1) ranks it first of 27 video models on cost, and first on speed [5]. | Resolution | Price per second | | --- | --- | | 480p | $0.005 | | 720p | $0.01 | *Mischief 1's list prices on fal and OpenRouter. Sources: The Next Web, OfficeChai, OpenRouter's model page.* ## Biology did the research, silicon runs the bill The unusual part is the ingredient list. TBC grows living neurons, derived from reprogrammed human stem cells, on multi-electrode arrays in a Mission Bay wet lab, feeds them real-world data as electrical signals, and maps what the cells do onto a small software layer that runs on ordinary AI chips [2]. The layer bolts onto Wan 2.2, [Alibaba](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/alibaba)'s open video model, and adds less than 0.1% to its parameter count, by the company's account [2][3]. TBC claims the result runs at least five times faster than the base model at the same quality. No independent benchmark backs that yet. The earlier Neural Dynamics Adapter work covered a Minecraft world model, and the company itself flagged that wider testing remained necessary [3]. ## The shelf pays the price of cheap Here is the tension for the platform doing the hosting. fal pitched itself to private-market investors on curated, premium generative-media inference. [Prior coverage here sized the talk at $15 billion on a rate card that repriced every 19 days](https://theinference.org/article/fal-is-talked-up-to-15-billion-on-a-rate-card-that-moves-every-19-days) [6]. A modelmaker using fal as a distribution shelf, racing price to half a cent a second, presses that card from inside the store. And the supply side is tight: on October 27 [fal's co-founder posted publicly hunting for B300 and GB300 GPUs](https://x.com/isidentical/status/2115202576501391420), chunks of 1 megawatt or more, delivered before end of year [4]. ## Watch the meters, not the neurons TBC [raised a $25 million seed in February 2026](https://officechai.com/ai/the-biological-computing-co-launches-mischief-1-an-ai-video-model-trained-on-lessons-from-living-neurons/) led by Primary Venture Partners, emerging from stealth with its wet lab [2]. What the science itself proved stays in the lab; the market signal will show up in the meters fal bills through, where TBC's cheap volume can drag the blended per-second price the platform earns against the premium it charges for its own curated roster. Whether Mischief's volume is large enough to move that blended take, no source yet says, and neither TBC nor fal discloses per-model usage [1][2]. Two readings settle it: fal's model lineup and pricing page, for a matching per-second cut, and any disclosure of Mischief's share of platform volume. ## Takeaway Mischief 1, an image-to-video model built on Alibaba's open Wan 2.2 by a startup that maps living-neuron activity into a tiny adapter layer, lists cheapest of 27 video models on OpenRouter at $0.005 a second; whether its cheap volume drags fal's premium blended rate is the signal to watch. ## Sources 1. [The Next Web, TBC launches Mischief, an AI video model shaped by brain cells, 31 October 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/tbc-mischief-neuron-derived-ai-video-model) 2. [OfficeChai, The Biological Computing Co. Launches Mischief 1, An AI Video Model Trained On Lessons From Living Neurons, 31 October 2026](https://officechai.com/ai/the-biological-computing-co-launches-mischief-1-an-ai-video-model-trained-on-lessons-from-living-neurons/) 3. [Kingy.ai, Mischief 1 Makes AI Video Cheaper, with a Little Help from Neuron Research, 31 October 2026](https://kingy.ai/news/tbc-mischief-1-ai-video-pricing-neuron-research/) 4. [@isidentical (fal) on X, post seeking B300s/GB300s, 27 October 2026](https://x.com/isidentical/status/2115202576501391420) 5. [OpenRouter, TBC mischief 1 model page, pricing, release date and benchmarks, accessed 31 October 2026](https://openrouter.ai/tbc/mischief-1) 6. [The Inference, fal is talked up to $15 billion on a rate card that moves every 19 days, 22 October 2026](https://theinference.com/article/fal-is-talked-up-to-15-billion-on-a-rate-card-that-moves-every-19-days) --- Neurosurgeons' video model built on Alibaba's Wan lists at half a cent a second on fal and OpenRouter — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/neurosurgeons-video-model-built-on-alibaba-s-wan-lists-at-half-a-cent-a-second-on-fal-and-openrouter