News
Big Tech sees neurotechnology as its next AI frontier
Neurotechnology that uses artificial intelligence is opening up new possibilities in healthcare that did not exist before.
For decades, companies and researchers have explored implantable devices that interpret signals in the brain and translate them into words or physical commands. The technology is not new, but now artificial intelligence is accelerating advances, allowing people affected by debilitating illnesses to communicate in ways that were previously physically impossible.
These devices have changed the game for people like Rodney, a patient living with ALS who had a Stentrode device implanted in his brain. The device, developed by Synchron, a neurotechnology company backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Bill Gates, contains a tiny electrode that converts brain signals into physical actions, allowing Rodney to type on a keyboard using only his thoughts.
While neurotechnology can empower patients like Rodney, AI could make less invasive neurotechnology more accessible to everyday consumers and spur the next generation of consumer-facing technology products.
According to Precedence searchthe neurotech device market was valued at around $15 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach more than $55 billion by 2032. That’s one of the main reasons why big tech companies like Meta (GOAL) and apple (AAPL) are supporting research into devices that can decode thoughts and perceptions without requiring invasive surgery.
But as Big Tech moves to develop neurotechnology advances in the medical world, experts warn that it could put our most valuable data – the privacy of our thoughts – at risk.
“This is our last stronghold of privacy, and we have given up on every other aspect of privacy that exists,” said Nita Farahany, futurist, technology ethicist and author of “The Battle for Your Brain.”
Big Tech wants to read your mind
Elon Musk’s Neuralink made headlines earlier this year when the company implanted its first human patient with a brain-computer interface (BCI), although the company said on Thursday that found some problems with the implant.
The Neuralink implant, which has more than 1,000 electrodes and 64 wires, malfunctioned after several wires were retracted from the brain, which decreased the number of effective electrodes. On a blog postthe company said this would not have a negative impact on the functioning of the implant.
Musk isn’t the only CEO trying to make neurotechnology a reality. At least 30 companies are currently selling neurotechnology or developing the technology.
Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and Neuralink, speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on May 6, 2024, in Beverly Hills, California. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images) (Apu Gomes via Getty Images)
Apple, for example, has a patent for AirPods with built-in EEG technology to measure brain activity. Given the concerns Apple’s slow iPhone salessome investors expect the company to produce interesting new products that generate additional revenue.
The story continues
Health has always been a goal for Apple. CEO Tim Cook laid out this strategy in 2019, saying, “If you look to the future… and ask the question: what has Apple’s greatest contribution to humanity been, it will be about health.”
Meta is another company funding a team of neuroscientists who are advancing this research to understand how humans process language.
In a study conducted by Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) group, researchers displayed an image in front of participants for 1.5 seconds. Users sitting at a neuroimaging machine thought about the image they saw, and the AI was able to use this brain activity data to recreate the image.
“Right now, this is not a mind-reading technology,” Jean-Rémi King, the lead neuroscientist working on the project, told Yahoo Finance. “What we can try to do is reconstruct the image that they see at a given moment, so we can really decode the perception.”
The results weren’t perfect, as seen in the image below, but they were close enough that the research team initially thought the test was flawed.
On the left is the photo that Meta’s AI fundamental research team showed participants. The image on the right shows the image that the AI reconstructed by decoding participants’ brain activity.
“The first reaction was… let’s try to figure out where we might have had some bugs that could explain the quality of these results,” King said.
King emphasized that consumer-facing products are not the end goal of his research, and Meta says his goal is “to help people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries communicate.”
But at the same time, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made the company’s neurotech ambitions clear since 2021, when he began promoting an armband that uses electromyography to detect neural signals, allowing users to type and click on a screen with their movements. more subtle of the hands.
“I think we’ll start getting some consumer neural interfaces soon,” Zuckerberg said in April. “I’m not talking about something that goes into your brain. I’m talking about something you wear on your wrist.”
The privacy problem
There’s a big question underlying all this research and product development: What would our world be like if big tech companies could literally read your mind?
Non-invasive brain monitoring devices could be revolutionary in medicine for patients, but not everyone is excited about the prospect of Big Tech gaining access to people’s thoughts.
Neurorights advocates believe that our thoughts are the last data we have left. That’s why they’re now fighting for legislation that protects mental privacy, while tech companies continue to fund brain scanning research.
“There are absolutely no regulations,” said Dr. Rafael Yuste, professor of biological sciences and neurosciences at Columbia University. “It’s like the Wild West.”
On July 6, 2024, electroencephalography (EEG), which measures the electrical activity of the brain, will turn 100 years old. (Jacob Schröter/Images Alliance via Getty Images) (Images Alliance via Getty Images)
After years of research, Yuste discovered a way to control rats’ thoughts using lasers. The experience scared him so much that he co-founded the Neurorights Foundation in an effort to safeguard thought privacy.
And concerns about the privacy implications of neurotechnology are already driving policy changes. In April, Colorado passed a bill that expanded the state’s privacy law to include neural rights – the first of its kind in the US. Similar legislation is also under discussion in states such as California and Minnesota.
“The only space we have for mental relief is actually our brains and mental states,” Farahany said. “It’s kind of the final piece of the puzzle.”
Farahany has a proposed framework for neurorights legislation that advocates for more privacy in general, with “a right to self-determination over our brains and mental experiences.”
According to Farahany, it would still allow patients who want – and even need – neurotechnology to have access to it.
For Rodney’s part, when I asked him via WhatsApp what he hopes his Stentrode device will achieve in the long term, he thought, “I hope it reaches more people.”
Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance