In a new episode of Decoded, CNN’s Anna Stewart learns about brain-computer interface (BCI) technology and how it is being used to help people live longer and healthier lives.
A BCI has sensors which are worn in a headset or in wires implanted in the brain that can read electrical signals. The BCI translates those thoughts into instructions a computer can understand and it’s possible to control things with just your thoughts.
In 2017, James Johnson broke his neck leaving him almost completely paralysed below the shoulders. A year later, a small BCI was implanted in his brain. This device allows him to make art and play video games. He talks to Stewart about using it for the first time, "Immediately from the very first time that they plugged me into the computer, I lost control of my cursor. It felt awesome because I felt like a Jedi. Right? I remember that feeling like it was yesterday."
Blackrock Neurotech created Johnson’s implant. Co-founder and CSO Florian Solzbacher describes the motivation, "You do this for people and these moments where you see, you know, have some ability to be independent again, to have control over your own life and to contribute again to society in a far more meaningful way. Because you can control your computer, you can work again, you’re helping to be part of this."
Professor Solzbacher acknowledges the risks of BCI implants but says with advancements and innovations the devices are becoming safer, "It’s always a question of, the balance between, what you’re getting and the risk. And I think with increasing numbers of implants and progress, the risks keep dropping, the capabilities go up."
There are two distinct branches of BCI technology. Non-invasive BCIs are sensors placed on the head or scalp, this is safer but has a weaker signal. Invasive devices or microelectrode arrays are surgically implanted on or in the brain itself. While it comes with a higher risk to the patient, it does offer superior signal quality.
Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, Professor Emeritus at Duke University talks about the growth in popularity of BCIs, "Neurotech is much bigger than artificial intelligence, by a long shot. Neuroscience is one of the hottest research areas right now around the world. Our protocol was spread around the world. But the overall result is now that millions of people around the world that had no hope to walk or to recover from a stroke, a spinal cord injury or other diseases are now having that kind of hope."
At the Lifespan Clinic in Dubai, BCI devices are being used to help people live healthier. Deena Al Jassasi, Director of Human Performance and Brain Health explains, "Mental health is health. And I think what most people tend to forget is that your brain is actually an organ, and that we need to take care of it as an organ. But we need to know what your brain is saying."
The use of BCIs raises compelling ethical questions. Is data gathered from the brain even more private than that generated by a smartphone or computer, and could it be hacked? Tom Oxley co-founder and CEO of Synchron talks about the ethical deliberations, "The main ethical consideration, I think, is privacy and security. The FDA has been very clear on the security requirements. It’s a lot of security. We have to do things like encryption, encryption on the devices level, the cloud level, to make sure devices can’t be hacked."
Finally, Stewart sees how OpenBCI are hoping to make non-invasive BCI devices more accessible. President and CCO Joseph Artuso explains, "The original mission was to democratise access to neurotechnology. There weren’t that many options, so we set out to make an easy to customise, easy to hack set of electronics for doing development in the wearable BCI space. More and more use cases that we didn’t originally intend for our products. People were kind of pursuing those with their own time because we made them open source. We made them easy to customise."