China moves AI brain implants from trials towards real-world use

A Chinese brain implant, connected to artificial intelligence, allowed a woman to dictate words and sentences in Mandarin at a speed of 300 characters per minute. That's faster than a native speaker normally speaks, who stops at 220 characters. The argument is this: while we think that brain implants are still lab stuff, in China they are already moving from testing to the first real applications — and the speed with which things are happening overturns the idea that these devices are far from everyday life. They are no longer just experiments: some Chinese companies are about to actually sell these devices, with the government aiming to become a world leader in the coming years. The key player here is NeuroXess, a Shanghai startup that, in its clinical trials, had a 28-year-old paralyzed man wear an implant with sensors placed directly on the cerebral cortex. The chip is connected with a wire to a battery under the skin of the chest. In the test, he was able to turn appliances on and off with just his thoughts, using an app and moving the mental cursor. But the even more impressive thing is the work on language: their AI can decode Mandarin in real time, faster than a normal conversation. The Chinese difference is not only technology, but also culture: according to Meicen Sun, a researcher in Illinois, in China people are much more willing to let companies use their personal data to improve services — and this creates a kind of cycle in which more data leads to better technologies, and better technologies lead to more trust and more data. Here, the idea of giving a company access to the brain seems like science fiction, or at least disturbing. There, it's an experiment that becomes a product. Then there is the question of rules: China has already published ethical guidelines for these implants, requiring the written consent of the participants and an ethical assessment, but the pace remains very fast. And now the question that is almost never asked: what happens when you can write or speak faster with your thoughts than with your mouth? It's not just a question of efficiency: it changes the way we communicate, and maybe even the way we think. Those who think this technology is still far away risk being caught by surprise — because China is taking it out of the labs at a speed the West did not expect. If someone tells you tomorrow that in China they have already made a person speak with their thoughts, you can reply that it is really happening, and that the next step is to sell it. The phrase to keep in mind: China is taking the brain implant from experiment to product, and it's doing it faster than anyone else. If this story has changed your idea about how close these implants are, you can mark I'm In on Lara Notes: it's not a like, it's a way of saying that this perspective now belongs to you. And if you use this story for a conversation at dinner or on the train, you can tag the person with Shared Offline on Lara Notes — so you know that the chat was really worthwhile. This Note comes from Nature and saved you 1 minute.