Neuralink rival Synchron uses OpenAI models to power chat function

Mark, a 64-year-old man, has spent the last year learning how to control devices like his laptop and phone using a brain implant. And thanks to OpenAI, it's now much easier to do so.

Neurotechnology startup Synchron said Thursday it is using OpenAI's latest artificial intelligence models to build a new generative chat feature for patients with its brain-computer interface, or BCI.

A BCI system decodes brain signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. Synchron's model is designed to help people with paralysis communicate and maintain some independence by controlling smartphones, computers and other devices with their thoughts.

The new AI-powered chat feature can take text, audio and image input and generate prompts that patients can use while texting, Synchron said. By doing so, the company said it will be able to help people like Mark interact with the outside world more efficiently and naturally.

Mark, who asked CNBC not to use his last name for privacy reasons, was implanted with Synchron's BCI in August 2023. He suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease that causes patients to gradually lose control of their muscles.

He said his diagnosis in January 2021 was like “a punch in the gut,” although the progression of the disease has been relatively slow in his case. Mark has difficulty moving his shoulders, arms and hands, but can still speak and walk short distances.

Over time, it will also lose those functionalities, he said.

“Unfortunately, there's very little we can do. It's 100 percent fatal,” Mark told CNBC in an interview Monday. “But I knew early on that I wanted to be involved in whatever way I could to help future people with this disease.”

Mark has been trying out Synchron’s new chat feature on and off for the past two months. He said it has helped him save valuable time and energy when texting. Using a BCI requires focus and practice, so Mark said the AI ​​helps take some of the pressure off when responding to messages.

“You have the ability to choose how to respond in a number of different ways,” he said. “So instead of typing out single words, I'll just press one or two buttons or click, so to speak, and finish typing out most of a sentence.”

For example, Mark can use the chat feature to schedule an appointment with his doctor and stay in touch with his daughters. He spent more than two decades in the floral industry and said he recently used the tool to discuss gardening with a Synchron employee. It’s a topic that has created a bond between the two.

Synchron CEO Thomas Oxley said the company is taking a “pragmatic view” in selecting the models that best fit its patients’ needs. Right now, that role falls to OpenAI, but Oxley said the companies don’t have an exclusive partnership. Synchron doesn’t share any brain data with OpenAI, he added.

Oxley said Synchron is still working to implement the new chat feature, but Mark has helped pioneer it.

“For him, it's a way to preserve his autonomy,” Oxley told CNBC in an interview. “The most important function of the BCI is to preserve his ability to make decisions.”

'Something bigger than yourself'

BCIs have been studied in academia for decades, but the commercial industry is still relatively new. Synchron, founded in 2012, is one of several companies including Paradromics, Precision Neuroscience and Elon Musk’s Neuralink that have been working to build and commercialize BCI systems in recent years.

Neuralink is the best-known company in the group thanks to the high profile of Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. But Musk is not the only tech billionaire keeping a close eye on the field. In December 2022, Synchron announced a $75 million funding round that included funds from the investment firms of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Synchron’s BCI is a stent-like device that is inserted through a patient’s jugular vein and directed to the blood vessel that lies on the surface of the brain’s motor cortex. Because Synchron’s method does not require open brain surgery, its system is less invasive than those designed by competitors such as Neuralink and Paradromics.

As of July, no BCI company has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to commercialize its technology.

In Synchron's case, the company has implanted its BCI in six patients in the U.S. and four patients in Australia as part of clinical studies. Mark was patient number 10. Oxley said Synchron is currently preparing for a larger trial with more patients.

Mark learned about Synchron through one of his doctors as he was nearing the end of a drug study he was enrolled in during August 2021. Deciding whether he wanted to get a BCI was a big decision, but he became convinced that it would help him retain some independence and ensure he could continue to communicate with his loved ones.

“That was the most exciting thing for me: the ability to still have some independence,” she said. “I'm talking about something as simple as changing the channel on the TV without having to call someone to use the remote control for you.”

He meets with Synchron for two hours, twice a week, to practice different skills and functions with the BCI. It takes some time to get everything set up and connected, so Mark said he primarily uses the system during these sessions. Occasionally, he also practices on the weekend.

Mark said he doesn't use Synchron's new chat feature every time he uses the BCI. He's still learning how to work with the prompts, but he said he's impressed by how often they mirror what he would normally say in a conversation. They even include the occasional swear word, he joked.

Mark had to stop working due to his illness and said mastering BCI has helped him have something to strive for.

“It's an opportunity to really be part of something bigger than yourself,” he said.