Our thoughts are often valuable because they reflect sudden, brilliant ideas and plans. Unfortunately, very often we forget them after just a moment. It turns out, however, that artificial intelligence can help us cope with this. How? Writing with thoughts is about to become a reality. For now, it can help people who are paralyzed
The tragedy of people who have lost control of their bodies as a result of paralysis is well known. They sometimes even have trouble with basic communication with the world. One of the tasks of artificial intelligence is to at least partially facilitate the functioning of people after serious injury or severe illness.
Building an artificial neural network is to help interpret human thoughts? That’s exactly what researchers at California’s Stanford University have managed to do. The idea is to transform the thoughts of people imagining writing – just into text
Unusual is not only the use of artificial intelligence itself for just such a purpose, but also the result that was obtained. The device created by American scientists is able to process words with an accuracy of 90 characters per minute. Is it much or little? Perhaps we would like to achieve better results, but this result is still three times better than it was so far
What exactly gives this invention an advantage over the tools used so far? Until now, an eye tracking method was used. This in itself was a step in the right direction, but it also had clear limitations. People taking part in such research had to be very focused on what they wanted to communicate. A high degree of self-awareness of their bodies was essential
An example? When eye movements were tested, normal movements were impossible: you could not look around or move your head. Although some results were obtained, the method itself could not be applied in normal, life-like situations, so it lay at the root. The task was undertaken by American scientists headed by Jaimie Henderson
The beginnings of the study conducted by researchers at Stanford University required finding a person who was willing to agree to participate in the research. A 65-year-old patient who was paralyzed from the neck down after a 2007 spinal cord injury agreed.
The man had to make a big sacrifice – two microscopic sensors were implanted under the surface of his brain. Interestingly, each was able to gather information from just 100 neurons. This shows the potential that lies in the system invented by American scientists
What happened during the study? The man was asked to imagine that he was writing on a piece of paper. Signals were received by an artificial neural network, which was built just for this purpose. It turned out that the assumed result was achieved. It was enough to collect information from barely 200 neurons.
Will it be a long time before this technology becomes popular and actually helps people? Although, after modifications, the tested man could write at a speed of 90 characters per minute, with 99% efficiency, this system is not necessarily a universal tool that will serve everyone. A lot of time and research is still needed before the system becomes widespread.
Main article photo: Designed by Freepik
