I finally saw a live BCI demo change someone's life at a conference in Austin

I was at this small neurotech meetup in Austin back in 2018 and they had a guy with locked-in syndrome typing out words just by thinking. He spelled out 'coffee' at like 10 words per minute and the room went dead silent. Has anyone else seen a BCI actually work on a person in front of them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

emerychen3d ago

That 2018 Austin meetup sounds INCREDIBLE. I saw a similar demo at a university lab in 2022 where a woman who hadn't spoken in 5 years used a brain implant to move a cursor on a screen and select letters. She spelled out "hi mom" and her mother started crying. The speed was maybe 8 words per minute, but watching her face light up when she finally communicated was something I can't forget. I think people forget how slow and frustrating these devices are at first. But that moment when someone locked inside their own body gets to say ANYTHING at all, it's like the whole room feels the weight of it.

gavincampbell3d ago

Actually, @emerychen, it was 8 characters per minute not words, which makes it even more impressive.