Highlights:

  • Earlier, considerable success was observed in this territory when implants were used.
  • The researchers described how this method is non-invasive and the first of its type to be able to recognize streams of words as well as small groups of words or sentences.

Artificial intelligence and fMRI scans have been combined by University of Texas’ researchers at Austin to convert brain activity into continuous text.

The findings were released today in the journal Nature under the heading “Semantic reconstruction of continuous language from non-invasive brain recordings.” The researchers described how this method is non-invasive and the first of its type to be able to recognize small streams of words as well as small groups of words or sentences.

The decoder was trained by allowing participants to listen to podcasts while being scanned by an fMRI scanner, a device that detects brain activity. This is a fascinating development because there were no surgical implants involved. Each participant listened to 16 hours of podcasts while they were being scanned, and the decoder was taught to translate their brain activity into meaning using ChatGPT’s predecessor, GPT-1. In essence, it evolved into a mind reader.

Earlier, considerable success was observed in this territory when implants were used. The technology might help people who lost the ability to use limbs and those who have lost speaking ability to virtually ‘write’. Alexander Huth, neuroscientist at the university, reported, “This isn’t just a language stimulus. We’re getting at meaning, something about the idea of what’s happening. And the fact that that’s possible is very exciting.”

Though not perfect, tests demonstrated that the technology is pretty much close to decoding. This can be cited by the example when the decoder heard, “I don’t have my driver’s license yet,” it translated to, “She has not even started to learn to drive yet.”

In different studies, the participants watched videos with no sound at all, and this time the decoder could explain what they were seeing. Although there is still much work to be done and the researchers occasionally encounter difficulties, other researchers in the field have praised the breakthrough as “technically extremely impressive.”

It may also be cause for worry given that when you consider mind-reading’s many applications outside of aiding the disabled, they can sound somewhat dystopian. Under the cover of its classified Project MKUltra, the CIA tried for many years to manipulate and read minds.

While addressing this issue, one of the authors said, “We take very seriously the concerns that it could be used for bad purposes and have worked to avoid that. We want to make sure people only use these types of technologies when they want to and that it helps them.”