Brain Alert

The commercialization of BCI is well underway

When I interviewed Vint Cerf in 2006 he spoke to me about the future of brain computer interfaces or BCIs. Obama's BRAIN Initiative hadn't launched yet, (that happened in 2013) but it was well known that DARPA had been investing in BCIs since the 70s.

After 18 years of conducting clinical trials, DARPA demonstrated that surgically implanted electrodes were achievable in several areas, including:

The neural control of prosthetic limbs
The restoration of the sense of touch to limbs
Relief of neuropsychiatric illnesses such as depression
The improvement of memory and recall

Then, beginning in 2018, DARPA launched its N3 program that focused on wearable BCIs, funding six organizations including Battelle.

Today, the commercialization of implantable and wearable BCI technology is well underway, and the two main areas of innovation are communications and therapeutics.

IMPLANTS

• Communication Devices: Surgically implantable or ”brain chip" communication devices that bypass damaged areas of the brain and nervous system to help people with disabilities control machines with their minds, help paralyzed people walk, and the blind to see, are being developed by companies such as Neuralink, BrainGate, BlackRock Neurotech and Paradomics.

• Therapeutic Devices: Therapeutic implantable devices that treat neurological conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s or assist people with neuropsychiatric disorders like PTSD, depression, autism and chronic pain, are being developed by companies like Motif, Synchron and Precision Neuroscience.

WEARABLES

•Wearable BCIs: are more prominent in the consumer marketplace, are include devices such as hats, helmets and wristbands. These devices, developed by brands such as Kernel, Elemind and Muse, use medical-grade scanning technologies, like EEG or EMG, to generate and record neural data to boost creativity, promote sharper thinking or help people achieve better sleep. Meta’s Orion AR/VR glasses, for example, relies on a wristband that interprets signals from the brain.

As the BCI consumer market expands, and leverages the power of AI, one chief concern is mental privacy. (see article: "The Protectors," Rafael Yuste) Medical devices are protected under HIPPA laws, but to date, BCI medical devices and BCI consumer devices are not.

All Sources:

https://www.battelle.org/

https://neuralink.com/

https://www.braingate.org/

https://blackrockneurotech.com/

https://www.paradromics.com/

https://www.motifneuro.tech/technology

https://www.motifneuro.tech/

https://synchron.com/

https://precisionneuro.io/

https://elemindtech.com/

https://www.kernel.com/