Neuralink competitor Synchron is using OpenAI models to support chat functions | Wilnesh News

Mark, 64, spent last year learning how to use brain implants to control devices such as laptops and mobile phones. Thanks to OpenAI, it’s easier.

Neurotech startup Synchron said Thursday it is using OpenAI’s latest artificial intelligence model to build a new generative chat feature for patients through its brain-computer interface (BCI).

BCI systems decode brain signals and convert them into commands for external technology. Synchron’s model is designed to help paralyzed patients communicate and maintain a degree of independence through thought-controlled smartphones, computers and other devices.

Synchron said the new AI chat feature can accept text, audio and image input and generate prompts that patients can use when sending text messages. By doing this, the company says it will be able to help people like Mark connect with the outside world more effectively and naturally.

Mark, who asked CNBC not to use his last name for privacy reasons, was implanted with Synchron’s BCI in August 2023. control.

He said his diagnosis in January 2021 was like a “punch to the gut,” even though his condition progressed relatively slowly. Mark has difficulty moving his shoulders, arms and hands, but can still talk and walk short distances.

Eventually, he said, he will lose those features as well.

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do. It’s 100 percent fatal,” Marks told CNBC on Monday. “But I knew initially that I wanted to do whatever I could to help people with this disease in the future.”

Mark has been testing Synchron’s new chat feature on and off for the past two months. He says this helps him save valuable time and energy when sending text messages. Using a brain-computer interface requires focus and practice, so Mark said artificial intelligence can help take some of the stress out of responding to messages.

“There are a few different ways you can choose to respond,” he said. “So instead of typing a single word, I press a button or two or click, if you will, and I’ve completed most of the sentence.”

For example, Mark can use the chat feature to schedule an appointment with his doctor and stay in touch with his daughters. He has worked in the flower industry for more than two decades and said he recently used the tool to talk to Synchron employees about gardening. This is a topic that the two people form an indissoluble bond with.

Synchron CEO Thomas Oxley said the company takes a “pragmatic approach” in selecting the model that best meets patients’ needs. Currently, that role belongs to OpenAI, but Oxley said the two companies do not have an exclusive partnership. Synchron will not share any brain data with OpenAI, he added.

Oxley said Synchron is still working on rolling out the new chat feature, but Mark has helped pioneer it.

“For him, it’s about retaining autonomy,” Oxley told CNBC. “The most important function of a brain-computer interface is to preserve his ability to make choices.”

“Something bigger than yourself”

Brain-computer interfaces have been studied in academia for decades, but the commercial industry is still relatively new. Founded in 2012, Synchron is one of several companies dedicated to building and commercializing BCI systems in recent years, including Paradromics, Precision Neuroscience and Elon Musk’s Neuralink.

Neuralink is the most well-known company of the bunch, thanks to the high profile of Musk, who is also Neuralink’s CEO Tesla and SpaceX. But Musk isn’t the only tech billionaire eyeing the space. In December 2022, Synchron announced $75 million funding round That includes money from the investment firms of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Synchron’s BCI is a stent-like device that is inserted through the patient’s jugular vein. It is delivered to blood vessels located on the surface of the brain’s motor cortex. Because Synchron’s approach does not require a craniotomy, its system is less invasive than systems designed by competitors such as Neuralink and Paradromics.

As of July, no BCI company has received FDA approval to commercialize its technology.

Synchron, for example, has implanted BCIs into six patients in the United States and four in Australia as part of clinical studies. Mark is Patient No. 10.

Mark learned about Synchron from one of his doctors in August 2021, toward the end of a drug study he was participating in. and ensure he can continue to communicate with his loved ones.

“That’s the exciting thing to me – the possibility of still being able to maintain some degree of independence,” he said. “I mean, it’s as easy as changing the TV channel instead of having to call someone to operate the remote for you.”

He meets with Synchron twice a week for two hours each time to practice different skills and functions of the BCI. It takes some time to set up and connect everything, so Mark says he mainly uses the system during these sessions. He occasionally practices on the weekends.

Mark said he doesn’t use Synchron’s new chat feature every time he uses BCI. He’s still learning how to use the prompts, but he says he’s impressed by how often they reflect what he would typically say in a conversation. He joked that there was even an occasional curse word in it.

Mark, who had to stop working due to illness, said mastering BCI helped him find purpose.

“This is an opportunity to really be a part of something bigger than yourself,” he said.