Tag: microchips

Big Tech Could Soon Use Brain Chips To Read Your Innermost Thoughts: Study

A new study out of Stanford University reveals that neural implants, also known as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), might not just help paralyzed individuals communicate – they could potentially lay bare your innermost thoughts to Big Tech.

Published in the medical journal Cell, the research shows these devices can decode brain signals to produce synthesized speech faster and with less effort.

BCIs work by using tiny electrode arrays to monitor activity in the brain’s motor cortex, the region controlling speech-related muscles. Until now, the tech relied on signals from paralyzed individuals actively trying to speak. The Stanford team, however, discovered that even imagined speech generates similar, though weaker, signals in the motor cortex. With the help of artificial intelligence, they translated those faint signals into words with up to 74% accuracy from a 125,000-word vocabulary.

“We’re recording the signals as they’re attempting to speak and translating those neural signals into the words that they’re trying to say,” said Erin Kunz, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford’s Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory.

But this technological leap has raised red flags among critics who warn of a dystopian future where your private thoughts could be exposed.

Nita Farahany, a Duke University law and philosophy professor and author of The Battle for Your Brain, sounded the alarm telling NPR, “The more we push this research forward, the more transparent our brains become.”

Farahany expressed concern that tech giants like Apple, Google, and Meta could exploit BCIs to access consumers’ minds without consent, urging safeguards like passwords to protect thoughts meant to stay private.

“We have to recognize that this new era of brain transparency really is an entirely new frontier for us,” Farahany said.

While the world fixates on artificial intelligence, some of the tech industry’s heaviest hitters are pouring billions into BCIs. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has raised $1.2 billion for his Neuralink venture, which is now conducting clinical trials with top institutions like the Barrow Neurological Institute, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Now, another tech titan is entering the fray.

Keep reading

ALS Patient Uses Synchron Brain-Chip Interface to Control Smart Devices Through Thought

From gaming to learning new languages, brain-computer interface (BCI) technology is rapidly entering everyday life, making tasks like online shopping and streaming as simple as a thought. On September 17, Synchron, a competitor to Neuralink, announced that a clinical patient named Mark, who has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is now able to stream shows, shop online, and control devices using only his mind, thanks to the Synchron brain chip implant.

So how does this work? According to the company, a tiny chip implant was placed in a blood vessel on the brain’s surface, enabling the Synchron patient to mentally “tap” icons on an Amazon Fire tablet, giving him access to Alexa’s many features. 

“Synchron’s brain-computer interface (BCI) device, also known as the Stentrode, is a minimally invasive device that detects brain signals related to movement intention,” said Kimberly Ha, Communications Lead at Synchron, in an email to The Debrief. “Once implanted in a blood vessel near the motor cortex, it translates these neural signals into digital commands.”

“For ALS patients, who often lose motor function, this technology allows them to control, enabling control of devices like Amazon Alexa or Apple Vision Pro, through thought alone,” Ha explained.

According to the New York-based company, Mark could also make video calls, play music, control smart home devices like lights, and read books by using his mind to control Alexa.

This is a significant first for Synchron and a development that has given them a platform to showcase their advanced brain interface technology. 

Keep reading

Neuralink CEO Claims Its Second Brain Implant is “Working Very Well.” But Is It? 

Neuralink has implanted its experimental N1 brain-computer interface (BCI) in a second patient, with Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, reporting the procedure is “working very well.”

“I don’t want to jinx it, but it seems to have gone extremely well with the second implant,” Musk said during a recent appearance on Lex Friedman’s podcast. “There’s a lot of signal, a lot of electrodes. It’s working very well.”

However, the question remains whether the experimental technology is indeed working well, as many issues have arisen since the first human was implanted with the game-changing brain chip.

In September 2023, Neuralink advanced to human trials, marking a significant milestone by implanting its brain chip in its first human patient. Noland Arbaugh, a 30-year-old quadriplegic, volunteered for the procedure and demonstrated the ability to play video games and chess using only his mind, thanks to the technology known as “The Link.”

Since then, only a some of the device’s components have been functioning correctly. Musk notes that only 400 of the 1,024 electrodes implanted in the user’s motor cortex transmit signals, showing a roughly 10 percent improvement over the 80-85 percent malfunction rate observed in Neuralink’s first volunteer.  

A total of 870 electrodes have reportedly detached from Noland Arbaugh after it was revealed that the brain chip had moved from its initial location within his skull, an unexpected outcome for the Neuralink team.

Currently, there is no information that has been made available to the public on why this happened. However, Arbaugh has said the company expressed concerns over the prospect of bringing him back in for surgery to remove the chip. Instead, Neuralink reportedly decided to pivot to another plan where the implant would remain intact. The Neuralink team then designed a new “recording algorithm” to help improve the user interface. 

Keep reading

Weaponizing Reality: The Dawn of Neurowarfare

Billionaire Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface (BCI) company Neuralink made headlines earlier this year for inserting its first brain implant into a human being. Musk says such implants, which are described as “fully implantable, cosmetically invisible, and designed to let you control a computer or mobile device anywhere you go,” are slated to eventually offer “full-bandwidth data streaming” to the brain. 

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are quite the human achievement: as described by the University of Calgary, “A brain computer interface (BCI) is a system that determines functional intent – the desire to change, move, control, or interact with something in your environment – directly from your brain activity. In other words, BCIs allow you to control an application or a device using only your mind.” 

Developers and advocates of BCIs and adjacent technologies emphasize that they can help people regain abilities lost due to aging, ailments, accidents or injuries, thus improving quality of life. A brain implant created by Swiss-based École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL), for example, has allowed a paralyzed man to walk again just by thinking. Others go further: Neuralink’s goal is to help people “surpass able-bodied human performance.”

Yet, great ethical concerns arise with such advancements, and the tech is already being used for questionable purposes. To better plan logistics and boost productivity, for example, some Chinese employers have started using “emotional surveillance technology” to monitor workers’ brainwaves which, “combined with artificial intelligence algorithms, [can] spot incidents of workplace rage, anxiety, or sadness.” The example showcases how personal the technology can become as it is normalized in daily life. 

But the ethical ramifications of BCIs and other emerging neurotechnologies don’t stop at the consumer market or the workplace. Governments and militaries are already discussing — and experimenting on — the roles they could play in wartime. Indeed, many are describing the human body and brain as war’s next domain, with a 2020 NATO-backed paper on “cognitive warfare” describing the phenomenon’s objective as “mak[ing] everyone a weapon…The brain will be the battlefield of the 21st century.” 

On this new “battlefield,” an era of neuroweapons, which can broadly be defined as technologies and systems that could either enhance or damage a warfighter or target’s cognitive and/or physical abilities, or otherwise attack people or critical societal infrastructure, has begun.

Keep reading

Here Come the Cyborgs: Mating AI with Human Brain Cells

If you read and believe headlines, it seems scientists are very close to being able to merge human brains with AI. In mid-December 2023, a Nature Electronics article triggered a flurry of excitement about progress on that transhuman front:

“‘Biocomputer’ combines lab-grown brain tissue with electronic hardware”

“A system that integrates brain cells into a hybrid machine can recognize voices”

“Brainoware: Pioneering AI and Brain Organoid Fusion”

Scientists are trying to inject human brain tissue into artificial networks because AI isn’t working quite as well as we have been led to think. AI uses a horrendous amount of energy do its kind of parallel processing, while the human brain uses about a light bulb’s worth of power to perform similar feats. So, AI designers are looking to cannibalize some parts from humans to make artificial networks work as efficiently as human brains. But let’s put the fact of AI’s shortcomings aside for the moment and examine this new cyborg innovation.

The breakthrough in biocomputing reported by Hongwei Cai et al. in Nature Electronics involves the creation of a brain organoid. That is a ball of artificially-cultured stem cells that have been coaxed into developing into neurons.

The cells are not taken from someone’s brain—which relieves us of certain ethical concerns. But because this lump of neurons does not have any blood vessels, as normal brain tissue does, the organoid cannot survive for long. And so ultimately, the prospect of training organoids on datasets does not seem practical, economically speaking, at present.

But that is not going to stop this research.  The drive to seamlessly integrate biology and technology is strong.  But can it be done?  And why do so many research scientists and funding agencies assume it’s possible?

Keep reading

The end of gambling addiction? Scientists develop brain chip that lower risk-taking in monkeys

Monkeys are natural risk-takers, but when scientists implanted chips into their brains, they became much more careful, according to a new study.

A team of researchers at Kyoto University in Japan used flashes of light from implanted chips to activate two different sections of the macaque monkeys’ brains. 

Switching one on encouraged them to take bigger risks with the hope of a bigger payoff, while switching the other section on led the animals to settle for a smaller but more certain reward.

This research offers insight into the neural roots of gambling addiction, said the researchers behind the study. 

But before digging into the brain, scientists began by figuring out whether their six monkeys liked to gamble.

They trained the macaques to look at different colored spots on a screen to receive a water reward.

Some spots would give the monkey a small reward 90 percent of the time – low risk, low reward. 

Others gave a reward that was 10 times larger, but it only paid out 10 percent of the time – high risk, high reward. 

Overwhelmingly, the monkeys went for the high-risk, high-reward spots. Like a gambler at a slot machine, even though they may lose more often than they win, they gambled with their eye on a big payout.

Next the team tried to figure out which brain areas were in control of this risk-reward calculation. 

Keep reading

AI-enabled brain implant helps patient regain feeling and movement

Keith Thomas from New York was involved in a driving accident back in 2020 that injured his spine’s C4 and C5 vertebrae, leading to a total loss in feeling and movement from the chest down. Recently, though, Thomas had been able to move his arm at will and feel his sister hold his hand, thanks to the AI brain implant technology developed by the Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine. 

The research team first spent months mapping his brain with MRIs to pinpoint the exact parts of his brain responsible for arm movements and the sense of touch in his hands. Then, four months ago, surgeons performed a 15-hour procedure to implant microchips into his brain — Thomas was even awake for some parts so he could tell them what sensations he was feeling in his hand as they probed parts of the organ. 

While the microchips are inside his body, the team also installed external ports on top of his head. Those ports connect to a computer with the artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that the team developed to interpret his thoughts and turn them into action. The researchers call this approach “thought-driven therapy,” because it all starts with the patient’s intentions. If he thinks of wanting to move his hand, for instance, his brain implant sends signals to the computer, which then sends signals to the electrode patches on his spine and hand muscles in order to stimulate movement. They attached sensors to his fingertips and palms, as well, to stimulate sensation. 

Thanks to this system, he was able to move his arm at will and feel his sister holding his hand in the lab. While he needed to be attached to the computer for those milestones, the researchers say Thomas has shown signs of recovery even when the system is off. His arm strength has apparently “more than doubled” since the study began, and his forearm and wrist could now feel some new sensations. If all goes well, the team’s thought-driven therapy could help him regain more of his sense of touch and mobility. 

While the approach has a ways to go, the team behind it is hopeful that it could change the lives of people living with paralysis. Chad Bouton, the technology’s developer and the principal investigator of the clinical trial, said:

“This is the first time the brain, body and spinal cord have been linked together electronically in a paralyzed human to restore lasting movement and sensation. When the study participant thinks about moving his arm or hand, we ‘supercharge’ his spinal cord and stimulate his brain and muscles to help rebuild connections, provide sensory feedback, and promote recovery. This type of thought-driven therapy is a game-changer. Our goal is to use this technology one day to give people living with paralysis the ability to live fuller, more independent lives.”

Keep reading

Computer chip with built-in human brain tissue gets military funding

Last year, Monash University scientists created the “DishBrain” – a semi-biological computer chip with some 800,000 human and mouse brain cells lab-grown into its electrodes. Demonstrating something like sentience, it learned to play Pong within five minutes.

The micro-electrode array at the heart of the DishBrain was capable both of reading activity in the brain cells, and stimulating them with electrical signals, so the research team set up a version of Pong where the brain cells were fed a moving electrical stimulus to represent which side of the “screen” the ball was on, and how far away from the paddle it was. They allowed the brain cells to act on the paddle, moving it left and right.

Then they set up a very basic-reward system, using the fact that small clusters of brain cells tend to try to minimize unpredictability in their environment. So if the paddle hit the ball, the cells would receive a nice, predictable stimulus. But if it missed, the cells would get four seconds of totally unpredictable stimulation.

It was the first time lab-grown brain cells had been used this way, being given not only a way to sense the world, but to act on it, and the results were impressive.

Impressive enough that the research – undertaken in partnership with Melbourne startup Cortical Labs – has now attracted a US$407,000 grant from Australia’s National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research Grants program.

These programmable chips, fusing biological computing with artificial intelligence, “in future may eventually surpass the performance of existing, purely silicon-based hardware,” says project lead, Associate Professor Adeel Razi.

“The outcomes of such research would have significant implications across multiple fields such as, but not limited to, planning, robotics, advanced automation, brain-machine interfaces, and drug discovery, giving Australia a significant strategic advantage,” he said.

Keep reading

Scientists Receive Green Light to Merge Human Brain Cells with Computer Chips

Brain cells merging with computer chips could be the next evolution of artificial intelligence (AI). Scientists in Australia have been awarded funding to grow human brain cells and combine them with silicon chips.

A team led by researchers from Melbourne’s Monash University are receiving more than $405,000 as part of Australia’s National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research Grants Program. The new project, led by Associate Professor Adeel Razi, from the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, in collaboration with Melbourne start-up Cortical Labs, will see scientists grow around 800,000 brain cells in a lab. They will then “teach” these cells to perform goal-directed tasks.

The project’s goal is to create what the team calls the DishBrain system, “to understand the various biological mechanisms that underlie lifelong continual learning.”

Last year, the brain cells made headlines around the globe after displaying their ability to perform simple tasks in a video game, like the tennis-style game, Pong. The team hopes these continual learning capabilities will transform machine learning — a branch of AI. The technology is becoming increasingly relevant in society, playing a role in everything from self-driving cars to intelligent wearable devices.

According to Associate Professor Razi, the research program’s work using lab-grown brain cells embedded onto silicon chips, “merges the fields of artificial intelligence and synthetic biology to create programmable biological computing platforms.”

“This new technology capability in future may eventually surpass the performance of existing, purely silicon-based hardware,” Razi says in a university release.

Keep reading

Elon Musk’s Neuralink Gets FDA Approval to Study Brain Implants in Humans

Elon Musks’s neurotechnology company Neuralink announced on Thursday it has obtained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to carry out a clinical study of brain implants in humans.

It marks the first in-human clinical study for the company.

“This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people,” the company said in a statement.

“Recruitment is not yet open for our clinical trial. We’ll announce more information on this soon!” it added, without providing further details about the trial.

Musk, in response, wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations Neuralink team!”

Keep reading