The New Scientist blog reports that ever-amusing DARPA is working on organically combining electronics with insects in order to create controllable insects, presumably for espionage or recon.
A cyborg roach appeared in The Fifth Element, carrying a spy camera until it met a sorry fate.
The intersections of infotech and biotech are growing, but the likelihood of useful cyborg insects still seems low. The FuturistMovies.com estimate:
I guess that the longer it takes, the less likely these will actually be, because it would be equally, if not more, feasible to go with entirely artificial constructs. What do you need a spybee for if a minispyplane fulfills the same tasks while not at risk from insecticides or other pathogens?
That’s my feeling — they become more achievable, but their value diminishes as more reliable artificial devices become viable.
Combining the brains of larger creatures with technology might yield more value — but presents ethical issues, and seems like a fasttrack toward AI that is capable, aware, predatory, and perhaps even angry.