 This brain implant is now powered in part by ChatGPT. It's designed to help people living with paralysis communicate faster, easier, and more independently on their digital devices using only their thoughts. We spoke with Synchron's founding CEO Tom Oxley and pioneering patient Mark, who is featured in the demo video, to find out what it's like to use, where the integration of AI and brain implants may be headed, and what comes next. It's an amazing realization that the mind can do what we're doing with it. Probably the coolest thing I've ever been involved with. Mark is one of only 10 people in the world who have been implanted with Synchron's Brain Computer Interface, BCI for short, as part of the company's clinical trials. I'm an ALS patient currently. I was diagnosed in 2021. The use of my company's clinical trials. I'm an ALS patient currently. I was diagnosed in 2021. The use of my hands is almost gone. Synchron's BCI is designed to make it easier for people like Mark to continue using their phones, computers, and other devices independently by connecting those devices directly to their brains. I can talk to you with my thoughts. The addition of AI is seen as a way to make communication through these devices faster by taking in the relevant context, like what was last said in a conversation, and anticipating answers a person might want to respond with. Rather than typing out individual words, it will give me options for parts of sentences, and with one click, I've got all that filled in. Mark has a refresh button he can use if he doesn't like his AI answers and he's noticed that through using the AI it seems to have gotten better at providing options more in line with things he might say. Every once in a while it'll drop an f-bomb which I kind of tend to do occasionally. Synchron CEO Tom Oxley tells me the company has been experimenting with different AI models for about a year, but the release of ChatGPT 4.0 in May raised some interesting new possibilities. OpenAI showed a man that was vision impaired using the system to navigate around a road. It's heading your way on the left side of the road. Get ready to wave it down. You could use audio and visual and text, and they can receive them all at once to present to you what's the next thing that you want to do. And I'm predicting it's this based upon the information because I could hear what your partner was just saying. I saw the text message just come in, and then the BCI navigates around the prompts and then chooses which prompt for the next move. Oxley says that the chat GPT integration only required a software update for Synchron, so there's no need to change the hardware or get new implants. We're trying to bring all of the inferencing and compute out of the body so that we can continue to offer upgrades. Oxley also says the company isn't tied down to any particular large language model. In the fast-moving field of AI, the systems that best serve the needs of their patients is what Synchron will adopt. We want to enable our users to engage in natural speeds of conversations. Often people who have disability or motor impairment are left behind. We want to bring them back into the conversation using digital means. Stare at it and think about moving for a long time and it'll start zooming in. Yeah, and release. So you made a click, your first click with your brain. Oh, what? Synchron's BCI is implanted inside a blood vessel near the brain's motor cortex, the part of our brain that controls our movements. In order to make a click or a selection with the Synchron BCI, users think about moving and the BCI interprets those thoughts and transmits them wirelessly to take the desired action on the user's device. What the fun fact, Synchron's BCI is unique in that it's based on pre-existing medical technologies like stents and catheters, allowing it to be inserted into the brain without the need for open brain surgery. Imagine having to ask someone to pick up your phone to write a message or do something. You're always having to go through the lens of another person. One of the big goals is to be able to utilize the technology on their own. I would encourage anybody who sees this video that may be in a similar situation where they are paralyzed or can't use their arms there's hope coming. Synchron's BCI is expected to cost between 50 to a hundred thousand dollars that's comparable with the cost of other implanted devices like cardiac pacemakers or cochlear implants. There haven't yet been any implantable brain computer interfaces that have earned market approval from the FDA something Synchron hopes to change. While the process may take several more years, Synchron's Stentrode BCI is already making an impact. I wake up with two choices in the morning. I can wallow in self-pity because of my situation, or I can do something about it. Not going to be a cure, but whatever I can do to help others, I think that's why we're here. To see a video of Synchron's implant process and how it gets into the brain without open brain Not gonna be a cure, but whatever I can do to help others, I think that's why we're here. To see a video of Synchron's implant process and how it gets into the brain without open brain surgery, check out this video right here. And subscribe to CNET for the latest and greatest tech news. As always, thanks so much for watching. I'm your host Jesse Orle. See you next time with the fam.
What It's Like Using a Brain Implant With ChatGPT
We spoke to two people pioneering ChatGPT's integration with Synchron's brain-computer-interface to learn what it's like to use and where this technology is headed.

Read more on CNET: How This Brain Implant Is Using ChatGPT https://bit.ly/3y5lFkD

0:00 Intro
0:25 Meet Trial Participant Mark
0:48 What Synchron's BCI is for
1:25 What it's like to use
1:51 Why work with ChatGPT?
3:05 How Synchron's BCI works
3:46 Synchron's next steps
4:27 Final Thoughts

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