Elon Musk's Neuralink brain implant system grabbed the spotlight after touting the initial success with its first human patient, who, despite setbacks, has the ability to interact with his laptop well enough that he can play games. But now Neuralink rival Synchron has announced a breakthrough with its own brain implant tech that takes the idea of mind-control into a whole new dimension: A patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has used Synchron implants to control an Apple Vision Pro augmented reality headset.

Mind control in a new digital 3-D world

In a press release about the breakthrough, Synchron says it's the "world's first-ever use" of Vision Pro in brain implants. The patient, "Mark," is a 64-year-old man with ALS who has lost function of his upper limbs - meaning he can't use the Vision Pro's hand-gesture interface. Using Synchron's implant, placed near the motor cortex of the brain via the jugular vein unlike Neuralink's multiple in-brain sensor threads, Mark can now play games like Solitaire, watch Apple TV and send text messages.

The release quotes Mark enthusing about watching videos in the headset. "It's like watching it in the theater, it really comes to life," he said, echoing what other people have said about the headset. He noted that "using this type of enhanced reality is so impactful" and he can imagine it helping other people in a similar situation to himself or people who've "lost the ability to engage in their day-to-day life."

It's worth remembering that ALS is a particularly cruel illness that progressively takes away people's ability to move, so Mark's implant-powered abilities mean he can regain some control over the external world.

There's some important distinctions in the Synchron announcement from Neuralink's earlier news. The Vision Pro is merely a different form of computer, and Synchron's success is in some ways similar to the laptop control that Neuralink patient Noland Arbaugh regained, but because Apple's headset is an augmented reality device, it can actually transport a user to an immersive digital "world." This could have all sorts of practical benefits for a brain-computer interface patient (from entertainment to, perhaps one day, typical office work) as well as future medical, or psychological considerations. As Mark said, the device can "transport you to places you never thought you'd see or experience again."

Synchron is also moving beyond the early successes of its clinical trial, tackling a wider scope for brain-computer interfaces that might go beyond helping people with paralysis and into a whole new industry. "We are moving towards a new Bluetooth standard for Human Computer Interactions that don't require touch or speech. This is a critical unmet need for millions of people with paralysis," says CEO and founder Tom Oxley, according to the press release.

A Bluetooth standard would mean brain-computer devices could control anything from smartphones to games consoles to more esoteric equipment like smart home systems. And if, or more likely when, people without pressing medical needs get brain implants, Bluetooth control would open vast possibilities for the future of computing ripe for innovators to embrace. Apple, which is known for making many accommodations in its designs to help people with disabilities, would likely leap aboard that train.

Neuralink and blindness

Meanwhile, some of the promises Elon Musk has made about Neuralink's brain implant system - which is set to enroll many more patients in a large scale trial - are facing pushback from some medical professionals.

Agence France-Presse reports that Ione Fine, a University of Washington psychology professor, said that Musk's idea that Neuralink could bring sight back to people suffering blindness was "a dangerous thing to say," since it made impossible promises to vulnerable people. Musk made the suggestion in March, saying that the "Blindsight" system was already working in research monkeys, and though the vision resolution would "be low at first, like early Nintendo graphics," it "ultimately may exceed normal human vision." In a research paper published Monday, Fine argues that brain implants' use for vision may be limited by human biology, "Engineers often think of electrodes as producing pixels, but that is simply not how biology works," she said.

But a Spanish study reported in 2021 showed that some successes had been achieved in implanting a matrix of electrodes in human brains to create a sort of artificial retina, giving some sense of sight to a 57-year old patient who'd been blind for 16 years - which lends support to Musk's goal.

 - TNS