Take that, Elon Musk. “This is the first tweet in history written and published solely by thought! Bravo to the creators of Prometheus, a technological revolution serving the common good and inclusion,” trumpeted Emmanuel Macron this Friday, May 31 on X.
Understand well, it is not the President’s tweet which was typed by thought, but the one to which the Head of State was reacting, published a little earlier by the Marseille startup Inclusive Brains. A technological feat coupled with a nice snub since X, where this unique post in the world was published, is the property of Elon Musk, in the same way as Neuralink, his company which is also exploring the avenue of the human interface -machine.
Clicking on” I accept “you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners.
More information on the Cookie management policy page
I accept
Chess by thought
On March 20, this biotech with much criticized methods released a video where we saw one of its first human patients playing chess with thought thanks to a brain implant with particularly fine electrodes. Problem, five months after its break, the implant would be hanging by a thread, so to speak. 85% of the 1024 electrodes which captured signals from the brain would have detached according to the Wall Street Journal.
Named Prometheus and based on the alliance of brain-computer interfaces and generative AI, the technology developed by Inclusive Brains is not only used for writing on social networks. In the photo that accompanies the company’s tweet, we can see a woman with a motor disability holding the Olympic flame: a feat made possible by an exoskeleton on the arm controlled with the help of Prometheus, therefore.
To write but also to control an exoskeleton
“Through this first public application and use of Prometheus, Inclusive Brains and Allianz Trade aim to raise awareness of the need to support scientific and industrial efforts in the field of AI-powered assistive technologies that improve inclusion in the workplace and beyond,” the company announced in a joint press release with Allianz Trade published in early May.
Created in 2022, Inclusive Brains is particularly aimed at people with sensorimotor disabilities and, with this project, more particularly at those who have lost the use of their hands or speech.
AI as reinforcement
Olivier Oullier, co-founder and CEO of Inclusive Brains, specified in the same text that “true inclusion consists of developing solutions that help each of us, without any discrimination. Being able to control a computer with your mind, your eyes, or by blinking or shaking your hand will change the lives of many paralyzed people, as it will allow them to communicate with the world. »
And to do this, the company trains artificial intelligence to recognize orders from the brain, by feeding it different types of neurophysiological data: brain waves of course, but also facial muscles, eye movements or heart rate. “This is the only way to allow machines and digital environments to adapt to the uniqueness of each user and what they feel in real time,” according to Olivier Oullier. No need for an implant to know what feeling Emmanuel Macron felt this morning: pride.
