The first person to have Synchron's ChatGPT implanted in the brain

Synchron, one of the pioneers in brain implant (BCI), is testing the integration of ChatGPT to help patients manipulate electronic devices.

Mark, a patient diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2021, said he has lost most of the use of his hands. He is one of 10 people in the world to receive a BCI implant with Synchron 's ChatGPT in clinical trials.

Mark uses ChatGPT thanks to Synchron's BCI. (Photo: Synchron).

Typing messages word by word with the help of BCI is still time-consuming. However, adding AI seems to make communication faster and easier by being able to pick up relevant context. In each conversation, AI can help predict responses and provide users with a list of possible options.

'Every now and then he'll let out a swear word, which I do ,' Mark shared.

Synchron CEO Tom Oxley says the company is still in the process of integrating AI into its brain implant chip. Additionally, Synchron has been experimenting with various AI models for about a year, but the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT-4o in May opened up some exciting new possibilities.

The "o" in ChatGPT-4o stands for "omni", indicating that this latest version is capable of receiving text, audio, and images at the same time to provide appropriate output.

Oxley also said the company isn't tied to any particular big language model. In the rapidly evolving field of AI, Synchron will adopt systems that best serve the needs of patients.

Synchron's brain implant, called a stentrode , is inserted into a blood vessel near the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls human movement. To make a click or select with the Synchron BCI, the user simply thinks about moving, and the BCI interprets those thoughts to perform the desired action on the device.

Currently, Synchron's BCI costs $50,000-$100,000 , which is comparable to the cost of other implantable medical devices like pacemakers or cochlear implants.