Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for training a student neural network. In one aspect, there is provided a method comprising: processing a training input using the student neural network to generate an output for the training input; processing the student neural network output using a discriminative neural network to generate a discriminative score for the student neural network output, wherein the discriminative score characterizes a prediction for whether the network input was generated using: (i) the student neural network, or (ii) a brain emulation neural network; and adjusting current values of the student neural network parameters using gradients of an objective function that depends on the discriminative score for the student neural network output.