A stroke victim is now able to talk after 18 years thanks to a team of researchers.
Using samples of her own voice from home videos, Artificial Intelligence was able to recreate her own voice. It also detects her brain signals to speak when she wants to. Fox Business reports:
Researchers at the University of California were able to implant a small panel of electrode implants into 48-year-old Ann Johnson’s brain, enabling her to “talk” for the first time in 18 years. Scientists sampled Johnson’s voice from a video of her speaking at her wedding in order to model her vocal tone and inflections and allow for optimally natural communication.
“The University of California team then trained the A.I. algorithm to detect her brain signals,” FOX Business’ Lauren Simonetti told ‘Varney & Co,’ Thursday. “They learned 39 distinctive sounds and a ChatGPT-style model was used to translate those sounds into sentences.”
The AI trained on 1,000 words, which it then found in her videos. This also proves that patients with strokes are capable of thought and communication, even if they cannot express it. Mashable continues:
The team tracked the parts of the woman’s brain responsible for speech and implanted a paper-thin rectangle of 253 electrodes near the surface of that area. The electrodes decoded her brain signals and, through a cable fixed to the implant, transmitted them to computers where AI algorithms were trained to read her brain activity.
The AI learned a vocabulary of over 1,000 words over several weeks, which it then reproduced in audio based on recordings of her own voice pre-stroke.
Apple is also working on a voice generator, though without connecting it to the brain. While AI can inspire fear, it is also making strides in helping disabled people recover what they lost.
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