A man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can control Amazon's Alexa voice assistant with his mind, thanks to a brain implant from Synchron, WIRED reports.
We are talking about 64-year-old Mark, who has limited mobility due to his illness. He can walk and talk, but cannot use his arms and hands. So far, he has been using Alexa with his voice.
As part of the clinical trial, he received a brain-computer interface (BCI) manufactured by Synchron in August 2023. The company is developing a BCI that decodes brain signals so that people with paralysis can control digital devices with their minds alone.
Synchron has now announced that the startup's BCI can now be used with Alexa without the need for voice or physical interaction with the touchscreen. The company says that Mark is the first person to use Alexa with BCI.
Interestingly, thanks to BCI, Mark can already control his iPhone, iPad, and computer with his mind to surf the Internet or write emails.
Thanks to Amazon integration, he can control Alexa with his Fire tablet to turn on and off lights in the house, watch TV, make video calls, listen to music, control the Ring security camera, read books on his Kindle, and shop on Amazon.
Synchron also connected Mark's BCI to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Apple's Vision Pro headset. Released earlier this year, the Vision Pro requires gestures to select items. After integrating Synchron, Mark could use his thoughts to control the cursor on Vision Pro to play solitaire, watch Apple TV, and send text messages.
Alexa and Vision Pro connect to Mark's BCI via Bluetooth. A Synchron specialist visits Mark at home twice a week while he trains him on how to use the interface.
The BCI Synchron resembles a mesh stent and is "dotted with electrodes" that receive neural signals. Using a minimally invasive procedure, it is inserted into the jugular vein at the base of the neck and placed near the motor cortex, the area of the brain that controls voluntary movements.
After implantation, the device detects and wirelessly transmits movement intentions from the brain so that paralyzed people can control personal devices without the use of their hands.