Swiss chip accurately translates thoughts into text

Swiss researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a microchip that converts thoughts into text with high precision while consuming very little power. This tiny chip, just a few square millimetres in size, is a miniaturised brain-computer interface (MiBCI) created by a research group at EPFL. The development was reported in the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. According to an EPFL press release, the main innovation is its miniaturisation. Typically, such systems are "bulky, energy-intensive, and limited in practical application". The MiBCI, however, represents a major advancement in brain-machine interfaces. The chip translates human brain activity into 31 characters with an accuracy of 91.3%, a significant improvement over previous versions of similar interfaces. "MiBCI allows us to convert complex neural activity into readable text with high precision and low power consumption," says Mahsa Shoaran, head of EPFL's Integrated ...