Synchron, a company dedicated to brain-computer interfaces (BCI), has announced the integration of ChatGPT into its brain implants. With this integration, the company says it will change the lives of people with paralysis by facilitating their communication and their ability to control devices.
Why this matters. This fusion of generative AI with brain implant technology is a huge breakthrough in assisting people with motor disabilities, offering them new possibilities for interaction and autonomy.
Some context:
- Synchron competes with Elon Musk’s Neuralink in the development of BCIs.
- The company claims to have implanted its device in ten people as part of its clinical trials.
- The estimated cost of this implant is between $50,000 and $100,000.
How it works:
- Synchron’s implant, called Stentrode, is inserted into a blood vessel near the motor cortex of the brain.
- The user thinks about performing a movement, and the BCI interprets that thought.
- ChatGPT generates contextual responses based on the conversation.
- The user selects a response with a simple mental “click.”
A user’s voice. Mark, a patient diagnosed with ALS in 2021 and whose last name wasn't provided, described his experience in an interview with CNET:
“Every once in a while, it’ll drop an f-bomb, which I tend to do occasionally.”
It might be just an anecdote, but it serves to illustrate how AI learns to adapt to the user’s communicative style.
Vision for the future. Synchron CEO Tom Oxley took inspiration from OpenAI demos showing how AI can assist the visually impaired. The horizon: getting BCIs, powered by LLMs, to be able to process complex contexts in the form of text, audio, and images to give coherent responses.
Synchron is currently seeking approval from the FDA to bring its device to the market.
Bottom line. The incorporation of ChatGPT into Synchron’s brain implants represents the beginning of a new era in assisting people with disabilities.
Mark himself said, “There’s hope coming” for anyone who may be in a similar situation. This technology not only promises to enhance communication for its users but also to restore autonomy and a certain quality of life to those who need it the most.
This article was written by Javier Lacort and originally published in Spanish on Xataka.
Image | Synchron
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