Recent research has uncovered breakthrough technology that might eventually be able to read our minds. A team of computer scientists and neurologists from the University of Texas at Austin have developed a semantic decoder that can decode brain activity generated from images or audio to translate thoughts into text. This chatbot-like system is based on a transformer model similar to the ChatGPT systems created by OpenAI.
The semantic decoder does not use implants or electrodes implanted in the brain. Instead, it utilizes brain imaging based on an fMRI scan that monitors brain activity in response to images or audio. By training the AI to recognize an individual’s unique brain patterns, the decoder was able to create stories closely matched with the original idea and words expressed in the audio material around half the time.
This research is significant because it could provide a valuable resource for people struggling with speaking due to conditions like ALS, which Stephen Hawking famously grappled with throughout his life. Furthermore, this work addresses the concern that this technology could be abused to violate someone’s privacy, leading the researchers to opt for willing, informed participants in the study.
The current drawbacks include difficulties when the participant actively resists the process or when the AI has not been trained on their brain activity. Additionally, the sematic decoder only produces a basic interpretation of the thoughts and it is currently confined to an fMRI machine. However, as technology advances and portable brain-image systems such as fNIRS become available, these shortcomings can likely be addressed.
OpenAI is an artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever and Wojciech Zaremba in December 2015. They work to develop and apply artificial intelligence technology with the goal of positively impacting millions of people around the world. The company focuses on artificial general intelligence, multi-agent systems, reinforcement learning and natural language processing. OpenAI’s team includes world-class researchers and engineers dedicated to building safe artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Stephen Hawking was an English theoretical physicist who worked extensively on gravitational singularity theorems, theoretical prediction of black hole evaporation, and quantum theory. He was the Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Hawking’s accomplishments earned him numerous honors and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, and the first Lucasian Chair of Mathematics in 1979. Hawking was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 21 and used a voice synthesizer and a custom-built motorized wheelchair to communicate. Throughout many years of living with the progressive disease, he continued to lecture, write and research, leaving behind an extensive legacy of scientific contributions in the field of physics.
