Qhen we talk about artificial intelligence we refer to a boundless world. A chance to revolutionize many areas of the private, social and political life of millions of individuals. These days has conquered all the history of a woman paralyzed by a stroke who, thanks to a digital avatar controlled by thought, has returned to communicating.
Artificial intelligence: an avatar from brain signals
The merit of this incredible breakthrough in research is all of a new brain-computer interface that – for the first time – has managed to translate brain activity signals into precise words and facial expressions. In this way, the paralyzed person affected by a stroke can communicate faster and more naturally with their loved ones.
According to what was communicated, the team led by neurosurgeon Edward Chang would have applied a very thin rectangular film to the woman’s brainwith inserted inside 253 electrodes. In this way, the device was able to detect the brain signals that, due to the stroke, the woman is no longer able to send to the mouth, larynx, tongue and face muscles.
A French department of Neurology. (Getty Images)
Recreated the voice of the woman
So, thanks to this film, the signals are immediately sent to an artificial intelligence system that was created precisely to be able to recognize the woman’s brain waves. To do this, this system was “trained” for weeks.
What happens once the AI receives brain signals? They are immediately reproduced on a screen, translated into words (with the same voice of the patient, recreated thanks to some pre-stroke recordings) and in an avatar that looks very much like her.
Thus, at the precise moment in which the woman communicates with the brain signals, they are processed. And on the screen next to her bed it is broadcast the image of a woman equal to her and with her own voice. The results of this incredible experimentation have been published in the journal natures by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco and Berkeley.
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