On December 23rd, 62-year-old amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient Philip O'Keefe became the first person to publish a message through thought and express it on social media, specifically Twitter.
The technological achievement was achieved thanks to a device called the Stendrode Brain Computer Interface (SBCI), which is installed like an endovascular brain implant. Through the interface, Philip was able to compose the message by thinking only about the words and actions. The message posted by O'Keefe was captured on the account of Thomas Oxley, CEO of Synchron, the company responsible for developing the revolutionary technology. “Hello world! Short tweet. Monumental progress,” he wrote.
hello, world! Short tweet. Monumental progress.
— Thomas Oxley (@tomoxl) December 23, 2021
The SBCI was implanted in the user's brain, without necessarily opening the skull, but rather using the insertion of a device through the jugular vein. This measures 8 mm and has been designed so that people can communicate using only their thoughts. The techniques of this method have been researched for years to treat people with stroke.
This cutting-edge scientific advancement could mean a great change in the world and, in particular, a great help for people who are unable to communicate. It also poses a risk to technology entrepreneurs who have already publicly expressed their desire to use freely accessible neural data to insert advertising based on their target users in the future.