"At best, neurotechnologies serve to increase your autonomy; at worst, to try to control you."

Boosted by artificial intelligence (AI) and microelectronics, neurotechnologies are experiencing considerable growth. These devices record brain activity through intracranial implants or non-invasive sensors, often attached to the head by a headband. The information thus collected, called "neural data," is translated into robotic arm movements, speech, and even images, including animated ones, transcribed by computers. Devices can also stimulate and modulate the activity of the brain and spinal cord. Hardly a week goes by without announcements about these interfaces between the central nervous system and the machine.

The latest feat to date, a neuroprosthesis, described on June 12 in the journal Nature , synthesizes speech almost instantly – with a 10 millisecond delay. A patient with Lou Gehrig's disease, who was unable to speak, was able to express himself thanks to 256 microelectrodes implanted in his brain. Through extensive training, an AI learned to decode his brain signals when he read sentences to himself, and was then able to transcribe what he wanted to say, including intonation. The artificial voice was also designed to reproduce his own, based on audio recordings from before his illness. This work, carried out by a team at the University of California, Davis, condenses two decades of progress in neuroprosthetics.

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