Scientists at the University of California at Davis have helped a man to speak again using a brain chip that can interpret his brain signals to read them aloud using artificial intelligence to mimic the man’s real voice.

In 2023, Casey Harrell was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The disease slowly took away his ability to walk, and to hold his young daughter, spreading to his mouth and robbing him of the ability to speak in anything other than a very slurred, totally incoherent way.

In July last year, electrodes were surgically implanted into his brain in an effort to try and understand what he was trying to communicate when he spoke. Connecting humans using what’s called a brain-computer interface, BCI, is perhaps more well-known through Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp., which has also made considerable progress of late. In 2023, a paralyzed man in Europe walked again, a leap into the future for neuroscientists at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

The implants in Harrell’s brain are in the location of the left precentral gyrus, the area responsible for speech. By interpreting the messages sent by neurons, the activity can be translated and then read aloud by the AI voice assistant which has learned to generate the sound of his voice. In some ways, he’s speaking again, communicating with his four-year-old daughter, something he didn’t think he’d ever do again.

Reports say that Harrell burst into tears the first time the machine helped him speak, his words clear as day. On the second day, he was speaking in longer sentences. “Sweet daughter of mine,” he said when seeing his daughter, “I have been waiting for this for a long time.” He explained that he felt now he could help with her upbringing, able to have a “deeper relationship” with her after a “frustrating and demoralizing” few years of noncommunication.

“This technology is transformative because it provides hope for people who want to speak but can’t,” said UC Davis neurosurgeon David Brandman. “I hope that technology like this speech BCI will help future patients speak with their family and friends.”

Photo: YouTube/UC Davis