Controlling AI with brain signals
Neuralink has pushed its brain-computer interface (BCI) for people who have lost the ability to speak a step further. A participant in its VOICE clinical study activated a Grok AI agent by imagining himself saying "Hey Neuralink," then issued a command that let the agent carry out a task autonomously on a computer.
The company described the integration as an early demonstration of how BCIs could enable more direct interaction with AI-powered systems.
Automatic speech detection and visualization
Previously, users had to press a button to start and stop neural recording for speech decoding. Neuralink's new neural voice activity detection system automatically recognizes when a user intends to speak and starts or stops the decoding process on its own. This could reduce the need for physical controls for people with severe movement limitations.
The company also introduced real-time visualizations showing the intensity and distribution of neural signals recorded by the implant. Participants can use them to experiment with different imagined speaking patterns and identify those that produce stronger neural activity.
iPhone calls and neural dictation
BCI-generated speech was integrated directly into iPhone calls: the synthesized voice is fed into the phone's microphone audio stream instead of a separate interface, so the person on the other end hears the generated voice. In testing, the participant used the technology to speak with his wife over the phone.
Neuralink also developed an iOS keyboard integration that lets users dictate text into different apps through neural signals. The feature is intended to reduce the difficulties people with conditions such as ALS may face when using conventional keyboards or voice dictation.
Bloom app and a 72-hour engineering sprint
The company added improvements to Bloom, its mobile app for speech-based BCIs: a faster editing system for correcting incorrectly decoded text and a lock-screen feature that enables speech communication without unlocking the phone.
These improvements were prototyped and tested during a 72-hour engineering sprint at the VOICE study participant's home, working alongside the participant and his wife.
Still investigational
Neuralink did not share quantitative performance results for the new features, such as speech-decoding accuracy or response times. The company's brain implants remain investigational and have not received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or other regulatory authorities.
