In a groundbreaking leap for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), a team in the Chinese mainland has decoded pure thoughts into fluent Chinese sentences, marking a major milestone in neurotech.
Researchers from INSIDE, a Shanghai-based startup, joined forces with neurologists at Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University to implant electrodes in participants with epilepsy. After just 100 minutes of training on average, their system learned to map neural activity to 54 Chinese characters in real time.
Building on this, the AI correctly interpreted 1,951 common words and generated complete sentences in under half a second, with virtually no length limit. “Unlike English with its basic phonemes, Mandarin involves over 400 nuanced syllables,” explains Li Meng, chief scientist at INSIDE. By tapping into the world’s largest human brainwave database at Huashan Hospital, the team achieved decoding accuracy above 83%.
Looking ahead, the researchers envision users controlling smart environments or crafting expressive artworks through generative AI, all via thought alone.
Huashan Hospital has pioneered BCI trials before. In August 2024, surgeons implanted a flexible 256-channel device by NeuroXess into a patient with epilepsy, enabling them to play table tennis and classic video games using only their mind within 48 hours.
This June, a man who lost all four limbs in a high-voltage accident regained digital mobility, playing chess and racing games after receiving a BCI implant from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Recognizing BCI as a strategic industry, Shanghai aims to build incubators and an innovation ecosystem that fully integrates brain-control tech into clinical applications by 2030.
By bridging the gap between mind and machine, this breakthrough could redefine communication, offering new hope to those facing speech challenges around the globe.
Reference(s):
Shanghai BCI breakthrough translates thoughts into fluent Chinese
cgtn.com
