The ability to type by thinking
At the F8 conference in 2017, Facebook announced plans to develop BCI (brain-computer interface), which would allow people to type with just their thoughts.
It’s been about two years, and experts from University of California/San Francisco have released a study that indicates their AI can comprehend words in brain activity.
Scientists were able to measure the brain activity of 3 people with epilepsy by using high-sensitivity electrical signal recordings. The participants were then asked simple questions and were told to give normal answers. The researchers claim that the algorithm was capable of recording brain activity while patients were talking. They claim their technology was capable of decoding the words patients were thinking with an accuracy of 76%.
Facebook does not have a date for this technology. There are aspects of it, though, for incorporation in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). In order to develop full hardware implementation of AR and VR systems, is undoubtedly a very time-consuming process with an uncertain result.
However, BCI technology could enable commands recognised virtually. This would offer a whole new level of ways for people to use this tech by being able to create commands with just one word (such as home, select or delete).
It should be mentioned that Facebook’s experiments are not the only ones being conducted in this field. Just a few days at ealier on Elon Musk’s company Neuralink announced a project that will allow controlling a smartphone through a device connected to the brain.
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
