How brain implants turn thoughts into speech

What BBN said about it

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentScientists built a brain implant that turns attempted speech into words, and it can speak them in a voice resembling the user's own, Science News reports.

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   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorA voice resembling his own. Branded and consistent.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThe system reads brain signals as one of thirty-nine English phonemes, then AI builds those into words and sentences.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentBefore it speaks, he reads each sentence on a screen and gives the go-ahead.

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   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorReview, approval, release. I've been doing this with my mouth for years, and nobody gave me a trial.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentIt's one man in a clinical trial, with four arrays and two hundred fifty-six electrodes.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentIt runs at about fifty words a minute, roughly a third of normal conversation speed. The BrainGate director says this is the very beginning of the field.

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   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorSlow, but every word gets approved first. That's the disciplined version of messaging.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentRuling: it's complicated.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThe tech is real and the early results are striking, but this is a trial with one volunteer, so your theory about everyone's mouth is a stretch.

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    Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThen put the screen on Kenji. I want to see the little box that says, are you sure you want to say that?