1. Voice activity detection To remove the need for pressing a button to start and stop recording of speech intention, we created a system for automatically detecting when a user is and isn’t trying to speak. This is a big step towards making communication for those with speech impairment completely hands-free.

Our engineers recently visited one of our speech restoration study participants for a 72-hour hackathon. The goal: rapidly prototype as many features as possible to enhance the experience of using Neuralink to communicate with thought. Here are some of the things we built 🧵

Early Neuralink speech restoration data: We are enabling speech to text and voice at conversational rates in participants with ALS. One participant achieved 75 WPM at 5.8% WER on a 125k-word vocabulary in their first week.

Our clinical trial participants have now used their Neuralink implants for over 50,000 hours, building one of the largest datasets of intracortical neural activity ever. We used it to pretrain a foundation model for BCI: self-supervised neural encoders that turn noisy, drifting spikes into stable representations. Some initial results: • Decoders that keep working for weeks instead of days. For some users, calibration dropped from 10 min/day to 10 min/week • Teleporting cursors that jump straight to the intended target • A new cursor-control record of 11.32 bits per second (exceeding the performance of most able-bodied people) We’re just getting started. Future directions include pooling data across participants, one-shot (or zero-shot) calibration, and an API for the motor cortex. Read more:

Through the VOICE trial, Terry is using his Neuralink implant to help fine-tune a brain-to-voice interface for himself and others who can’t speak. He trained the algorithm first by miming speech as best he could, then by simply thinking the words and hearing them come out in his own natural voice. Powered by Grok Voice from @SpaceXAI

The dura is the brain's armor: a membrane so tough that a surgeon normally cuts through it with a scalpel. For the first time in our clinical trials, we inserted the electrode threads of our implant straight through the dura and into the cortex, keeping the dura intact. Here's how we did it 🧵

After a car accident left her paralyzed from the neck down, Audrey didn’t think she would be able to draw or paint again. 20 years later, she became the first female participant in our clinical trials. Now, she uses her brain-computer interface to create art with her mind.

Our robot is designed to insert hundreds of ultra-fine, flexible threads with thousands of electrodes within microns of targeted neurons while avoiding vasculature and adapting to real-time brain motion.

ALS is a disease that takes everything. Our goal is to give something back. Kenneth, who has been losing his ability to move and speak due to ALS, is exploring how Neuralink’s brain-computer interface technology can help translate neural signals into life-changing impact.

ALS has gradually taken away Kenneth’s ability to speak. Through Neuralink’s VOICE clinical trial, he’s exploring how a brain-computer interface designed to translate thought to speech could help restore autonomy in his daily life. Watch to learn more: