In 2021, OpenAI researchers were digging into the internal representations of their CLIP model (a multimodal network trained to link images and text), looking for Concept Cells.

When they mapped the activations, they found a literal “Spiderman Neuron” (Neuron 53 in one of the final ResNet layers). This single neuron would fire intensely when the model was fed:

• A photo of someone in a Spiderman costume.
• A comic book illustration of Spiderman.
• The literal text word “Spider-Man”.
• A completely abstract, black-and-white sketch of a spider web.

It proved that deep inside the matrix, the model had dedicated a specific piece of its architecture to the abstract, high-level concept of Spiderman across multiple dimensions of media.