Brain-computer interface

Dictation tech has gotten way better over the last few years, thanks to sophisticated AI models. But an upcoming device can remove even more friction from the process of getting words onto your screen, by simply reading your thoughts.

Apple is getting into the brain-computer interface business, reveals New York-based startup Synchron. The idea is to enable people with limited mobility use iPhones, iPads, and the Vision Pro headset by transmitting commands through their minds.

Synchron has announced that a trial participant has used its brain-computer interface to turn on the lights in his home, see who is at the door, and choose what to watch on the TV – hands-free and without even a voice command.

The brain-machine interface race is on. While Elon Musk's Neuralink has garnered most of the headlines in this field, a new small and thin chip out of Switzerland makes it look downright clunky by comparison. It also works impressively well.

Rather than cut a chunk of skull away to install a brain-computer interface like Neuralink, Synchron feeds electrodes up through the jugular vein to the motor cortex. Now the tech has enabled an ALS sufferer hands-free control of Apple's Vision Pro.

Living brain cells wired into organoid-on-a-chip biocomputers can now learn to drive robots, thanks to an open-source intelligent interaction system called MetaBOC. This remarkable project aims to re-home human brain cells in artificial bodies.

The first human trial of Neuralink's brain implant has suffered an unexpected setback – but the technology was still life-changing for the recipient. Elon Musk's company is now looking for a second human patient.

Implantable neurological technology has advanced drastically, offering a return to normalcy for some people with neurological disorders. But given its rapid progression, what happens when these implants become obsolete or its manufacturer goes bust?

"The first human received an implant from Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well." Elon Musk has announced a milestone moment at his brain-machine interface company, after a surgical robot successfully installed its first human brain chip.

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.

Australian startup Synchron, backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, looks set to beat Elon Musk's Neuralink to market with a safe, reliable brain-computer interface that any hospital can quickly install – without cutting a hole in your skull.

Several years after Elon Musk's "aspirational" timeframe, Neuralink has announced it's received FDA approval for the first human trials of its brain-computer interface. But it's worth noting that another company has already done more than 50 implants.