Generative AI Enhances This Patient’s Neuralink Brain Implant

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What’s remarkable is that Smith can steer a pointer with his brain well enough to text his wife at home and respond to emails. Since he had only been semi-famous for a few days, he expressed that he didn’t want to delve too deeply into philosophical questions about the authenticity of his AI-assisted posts. “I don’t want to wade in over my head,” he said. “I leave it for experts to argue about that!”

The eye tracker Smith previously used for typing required low light and was limited to indoor use. “I was basically Batman stuck in a dark room,” he explained in a video he shared on X. The implant allows him to type in brighter environments—even outdoors—and considerably faster.

The thin wires implanted in his brain listen to neurons. Because their signals are faint, they need amplification, filtering, and sampling to extract the most important features—which are sent from his brain to a MacBook via radio and then further processed to enable movement of the computer pointer.

With control over this pointer, Smith types using an app. Various AI technologies assist him in expressing himself more naturally and quickly. One example is a service from a startup that created a copy of his voice from recordings made when he was healthy. This “voice clone” can read his written words aloud in a way that resembles his natural voice. (The service is also utilized by other ALS patients who don’t have implants.)

Researchers have been examining how ALS patients feel about the concept of language assistants. In 2022, Klein interviewed 51 individuals with ALS and found a variety of opinions. Some people are precise, like a librarian who believed that everything she communicated had to be her own words. Others are more relaxed—an entertainer felt it was more important to keep pace with a fast-moving conversation.

In the video Smith shared, he mentioned that Neuralink engineers had begun using language models to provide a selection of relevant replies to questions, as well as suggestions for things he could contribute to ongoing conversations. One example he shared: “My friend asked me for ideas for his girlfriend who loves horses. I chose the option that suggested telling him in my voice to get her a bouquet of carrots. What a creative and funny idea.”

These aren’t strictly his thoughts, but they are functional—since selecting a menu option is much faster than typing out a complete answer, which can take minutes.

Smith expressed his desire to take things a step further. He mentioned an idea for a more “personal” large language model that “trains on my past writing and answers with my opinions and style.” He indicated that he’s seeking someone willing to help bring this idea to life: “If you know of anyone who wants to assist me, let me know.”

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