Neuralink brain chip helps ALS patients speak at 75 words a minute

Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company, has shared early results of its VOICE speech restoration study. It lets ALS patients turn brain signals into text and speech, at a speed close to everyday conversation.

One participant reached 75 words per minute in the first week of use. With a 125,000-word vocabulary, the word error rate was 5.8%, about one mistake in every 17 words. The study plans to recruit about 6 people who lost the ability to communicate due to ALS, spinal cord injury, or stroke. The main goal is to check for device or surgery-related side effects within 12 months of implantation.

ALS slowly takes away a person's ability to speak and type. A stable brain-computer interface could greatly lower the barriers to communication. However, the data comes from a single participant, and Neuralink has not yet published a full peer-reviewed paper, so long-term results remain to be seen.