Recently, Synchron, a brain-computer interface (BCI) research and development company in United States, announced the integration of OpenAI's ChatGPT into its BCI platform, providing people with paralysis with a new digital operation method that uses brain thinking to interact with devices.
Synchron创办人兼行政总裁Tom Oxley ，图片来源：University of Melbourne
Tom Oxley, founder and CEO of Synchron, said that in the past, people with paralysis had to type messages verbatim when using BCI, which was not very efficient. Now, Synchron can use ChatGPT to predict the text that the user wants to type and provide response options by understanding the text that the user wants to type, saving time for verbatim typing, so that users can communicate faster and easier.
In the past, it was necessary to enter verbatim, image source: CNET@YouTube
The new BCI interface after the integration of ChatGPT provides users with a variety of response options
Image courtesy of CNET
People who are paralyzed no longer need to type verbatim, image source: CNET@YouTube
The brain-computer interface will send a message to the user after confirmation, image source: CNET@YouTube
This integration not only enables patients to interact with the digital world more quickly, but also lays the foundation for the future use of multimodal technology. Tom Oxley, founder and CEO of Synchron, was quoted by CNET as saying that this collaboration marks an important breakthrough in neurotechnology, especially in terms of combining generative AI to improve user experience.
Image source: CNET@YouTube
Tom Oxley pointed out that Synchron has experimented with various AI models over the past year, and OpenAI's release of GPT-4o in May has opened up more possibilities for them. GPT4-o's "o" means "omni", which means that this version of the AI can accept text, audio, and visual input. Tom Oxley believes that as technology advances, future brain-computer interfaces will be able to integrate these inputs, providing users with richer interaction options and allowing them to interact digitally in a more natural way. Tom Oxley points out that the company will not limit itself to using any particular large language model, but will prioritize the AI that best meets the needs of the user.
Synchron's implant, called "Stentrode," is implanted in blood vessels near the area of the brain responsible for controlling voluntary movement (motor cortex). To communicate with the brain-computer interface, the user simply imagines moving with their brain, and BCI is able to interpret the idea and send a wireless signal to the user's electronic device to perform the relevant action.
Stentrode is implanted in blood vessels near the motor cortex of the brain, image credit: CNET@YouTube
Synchron's brain-computer interface devices are expected to cost around US$50,000 to US$100,000 (approximately HK$390,000 to HK$780,000), similar to other implantable medical devices such as pacemakers or cochlear implants. No implantable brain-computer interface has yet to be cleared by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Synchron is known to have been approved by the FDA within a few years. Now that Synchron's BCI is implanted through blood vessels, this technology has shown its potential in clinical trials.
图片、数据源：CNET、CNET@YouTube、Forbes、Retail Wire、Motor cortex@Wikipedia