Brain Implants Let Paralyzed People Type With Thought Alone—Nearly as Fast as Smartphone Users

Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have enabled two paralyzed individuals to type using only their thoughts via brain implants, achieving speeds of up to 22 words per minute—nearly matching able-bodied smartphone users. The system, part of the BrainGate2 clinical trial, translates imagined finger movements on a standard QWERTY keyboard into text using a deep learning model and language model autocomplete. After training on just 30 sentences, participants could type freely with low error rates, surpassing previous brain-computer interface typing records. Future improvements include adding more keys, personalized calibration, and the ability to disable autocorrect for passwords and slang.