Neuralink competitor Synchron uses OpenAI models to power chat feature

A 64-year-old man named Mark has spent the past year learning how to control devices like his laptop and phone using a brain implant. And thanks to OpenAI, doing so just got a whole lot easier.

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

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

Synechron said its new AI-powered chat feature can take inputs from text, voice and images and generate prompts that patients can use while texting. By doing so, the company said it will be able to help people like Mark communicate 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 device in August 2023. Mark has 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 stomach,” although the progression of the disease has been relatively slow in his case. Mark struggles to move his shoulders, arms and hands, but is still able to talk and walk short distances.

Eventually, he will lose those jobs, too, he said.

“There's very little, unfortunately, that we can do,” Mark told CNBC in an interview on Monday. “It's a 100 percent fatal disease. But I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do whatever I could to help future individuals with this disease.”

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

“You have options for how to respond in different ways,” he said. “So instead of me typing in single words, I press one or two buttons or one click, if you will, and I’ve done most of the sentence.”

For example, Mark can use the chat feature to make an appointment with his doctor and communicate with his daughters. Mark has spent more than two decades in the floristry industry, and he said he recently used the tool to talk about gardening with a Synchron employee. It’s a topic the two have bonded over.

Synchronis CEO Thomas Oxley said the company takes a “pragmatic view” in choosing models that best support its patients’ needs. Currently, that role falls to OpenAI, but Oxley said the two companies are not in an exclusive partnership. He added that Synchronis does not share any brain data with OpenAI.

Oxley said Synchron is still working on launching the new chat feature, but Mark helped develop it.

“For him, it’s maintaining autonomy,” Oxley told CNBC. “The most important function of a BCI is to maintain his ability to make decisions.”

“something bigger than you”

Brain-computer interfaces 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 building and commercializing brain-computer interface systems in recent years.

Neuralink is the most high-profile company in the group thanks to the high profile of Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla But Musk isn’t the only tech billionaire watching the space. In December 2022, Synechron announced a $75 million funding round that included funding from venture capital firms of Microsoft 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. It is connected to blood vessels that lie on the surface of the brain’s motor cortex. Because Synchron’s approach doesn’t require open brain surgery, its system is less invasive than those designed by competitors like Neuralink and Paradromics.

As of July, no BCI company had received FDA approval to market its technology.

In Synechron’s case, the company has implanted its brain-brain interface in six patients in the United States and four patients in Australia as part of clinical studies. Mark was patient number 10. Oxley said Synechron is now preparing for a larger trial with more patients.

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

“That was the exciting thing for me — the ability to still be able to be somewhat independent,” he said. “I mean something as simple as changing the channel on the TV without having to call someone to operate the remote for you.”

Mark meets with Synchron for two hours twice a week to practice different skills and functions using the BCI. It takes a while to set everything up and connect, so Mark said he primarily uses the system during these sessions. He also occasionally practices on the weekends, too.

Mark said he doesn’t use Synchron’s new chat feature every time he uses the brain-computer interface. He’s still learning how to deal with the prompts, but he said he’s impressed by how well they replicate what he normally says in a conversation. Sometimes they even include swear words, he joked.

Mark had to stop working due to his illness, and he said mastering the brain-computer interface helped him get something to strive for.

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