Synchron, a pioneering company in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, is testing the integration of ChatGPT to assist patients in operating electronic devices.
Mark, a patient diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2021, stated that he has nearly lost the ability to use his hands. He is one of only ten individuals in the world to receive a ChatGPT-integrated BCI from Synchron during clinical trials.
Mark using ChatGPT through Synchron’s BCI. (Photo: Synchron).
Inputting messages one word at a time with the help of BCI is still time-consuming. However, the addition of AI seems to facilitate quicker and easier communication by leveraging contextual understanding. In each conversation, the artificial intelligence can assist in predicting responses and provide the user with a list of feasible options.
“Sometimes it lets out a curse word, which I tend to do as well,” Mark shared.
Tom Oxley, CEO of Synchron, mentioned that the company is still in the process of integrating AI into the brain implants. Additionally, Synchron has been testing various AI models over the past year, but the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o in May has opened up some exciting new possibilities.
The “o” in ChatGPT-4o stands for “omni,” indicating that this latest version can process text, audio, and images simultaneously to provide appropriate output.
Oxley also stated that the company is not tied to any specific large language model. In the rapidly evolving field of AI, Synchron will adopt the systems that best meet patients’ needs.
Synchron’s brain implant, known as the stentrode, is inserted into blood vessels near the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls human movement. To perform a click or make a selection using the Synchron BCI, users simply think about moving, and the BCI interprets those thoughts to execute the desired action on their device.
Currently, Synchron’s BCI costs between $50,000 and $100,000, comparable to the cost of other implantable medical devices such as pacemakers or cochlear implants.
