The dream of mentally responding to text messages and emails without a device faces one very practical hurdle — ‘People like their skulls,’ a neurologist says
Implanting chips in the human brain so that people can control computers with their minds reads like something straight out of a sci-fi novel, and yet it is a burgeoning industry among Silicon Valley startups.
The technical term for these brain chips is brain-computer interface. “The best way to think about this is a brain-control system that enables you to navigate through your personal devices without having to use your hands,” said Tom Oxley, CEO of Synchron during an onstage presentation at Fortune’s Global Forum in New York on Tuesday.
The technology presents no shortage of technological, medical, and ethical hurdles, however. It is no easy feat to engineer a piece of hardware small enough to be able to fit inside the human brian. Much less one that can link up with devices. Then there is, of course, the risks of the medical procedure itself. “People like their skulls,” said Oxley, who is also a trained neurologist.
While ethically, humanity must contend with further blurring the lines between their flesh and blood existence in the real and digital worlds. But in the nearterm, brain-computer interfaces have to grapple with one problem above all, according to Oxley. It requires open brain surgery to install the devices.
“The problem with open brain surgery is that none has scaled up,” Oxley said.
For brain-computer interfaces, like Synchron’s, to reach the masses they will have to be implanted with catheters, according to Oxley. He cited the example of cardiac treatments, which prior to inventions like stents and pacemakers, always required open-heart surgeries. Taking a page out of that playbook, Synchron now aims to install a catheter through the jugular that then inserts electronics into a blood vessel in the brain, Oxley said.
“The key really has been to get out of the operating room,” Oxley said.
Using this method, Syncrhon has conducted two clinical trials over five years with 10 total patients.
Among the most well known companies in the industry is Elon Musk’s Neuralink. While still in its infancy the industry represents a $400 billion opportunity, according to Morgan Stanley. Even though the idea still elicits visions of a far-off future, Morgan Stanley expects the first version of brain computer interfaces to start being commercialized in five years.
The technology holds particular promise for people who are paralyzed because it would allow them a greater level of interaction with the world by being able to use a computer. An early idea in the industry—which Synchron and its rivals are working toward—is to create digital avatars of a paralyzed person that they can then move with their mind. Other applications include restoring the vision of blind people.
So far, progress is limited to moving items around a screen, though not to the extent one could by using a mouse and keyboard, Oxley said.
Syncrhon’s current brain chips allow for “basic use” of Apple iOS, according to Oxley.
In his lecture at Fortune’s Global Forum Oxley cited Apple cofounder Steve Jobs’ dislike for larger-sized iPhones. Jobs, Oxley recounted, didn’t like the jumbo versions because he wanted consumers to be able to reach every corner of the screen, which wasn’t possible if it was too big. A brain-computer interface would eliminate any limits the physical structure of a piece of technology might impose on its users, Oxley said.
“That speaks to the idea that our devices are currently constrained to the built form factor of our human body,” he said. “Brain computer interface is going to be constrained not by the physical form factor of the human body, but by the constraints of the brain.”
