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The rise of brain-reading technology: what you need to know

As implanted devices and commercial headsets advance, what will the real-world impacts be?
  1. Liam Drew

    1. Liam Drew is a freelance writer based near London.

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A participant in Edward Chang’s study of speech neuroprostheses attempts to silently speak a sentence.

Ann, who was left paralysed by a stroke, uses a brain–computer interface to translate brain signals into the speech and movement of an avatar. Credit: Noah Berger

In a laboratory in San Francisco, California, a woman named Ann sits in front of a huge screen. On it is an avatar created to look like her. Thanks to a brain–computer interface (BCI), when Ann thinks of talking, the avatar speaks for her — and in her own voice, too.

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Nature 623, 241-243 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03423-6

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