AbstractThe oil droplet is used as a simple model system to study the physical basis of intelligence. The oil droplet is a structure produced by self-assembly. By coupling a chemical reaction in the oil droplet with a physical instability, the droplet displays life-like properties such as autonomous motility, sensory-motor coupling, gradient following and agent-to-agent signaling. By developing this system towards ICT capabilities that include information processing, transmission and transformation, data storage and production, we explore the minimal physicochemical basis of intelligence.