AI Reporter Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Neurotech companies are selling your brain data, senators warn In May, Smith connected with Insta360, a company known for action cameras and swiveling webcams like the Link 2. The company adjusted the Link 2 control panel to meet Smith’s desire for the camera to turn faster and pivot farther with each click. The camera remained the same, but each click on a custom-built control panel moved the camera three times as fast, up to roughly 15 degrees per second. A second custom control panel gave Smith the ability to rotate the camera by 0.5 degrees. Before the conference camera, before the BCI, there was a bell and other everyday hacks to meet the needs of Smith’s increasingly limited mobility. Smith opted for a $20 dog bell, the kind placed at dog height next to doors, instead of an expensive nurse call button. Smith amplified his voice as it grew weaker with a microphone that made him feel like a Backstreet Boy. He used a runner’s phone holder armband to secure his phone to the top of his thigh in the perfect spot under his hand so he could drag his fingers across the screen. Now, he programs frequently used phrases and favorite movie quotes into his text-to-speech software, allowing him to participate in the swiftly moving conversations progressing around him. “Many normal things are useful for disabilities,” Smith said. When asked if he thinks of himself as innovative, Smith demurred. “I just think about how to solve a problem,” he said, joking, “and Tiffany is cheap.” Disability unearths creativity, former BCI user Ian Burkhart said in an interview with The Verge. People with disabilities are “forced to make adjustments and find solutions to navigate life,” Burkhart said. He is paralyzed from the chest down due to a spinal cord injury in his neck from a driving accident in 2010. Unlike Smith, who uses his Neuralink BCI at home, Burkhart experienced BCI technology within the confines of the research lab. From 2014 to 2021, Burkhart was part of a clinical research trial at The Ohio State University with the longest-standing BCI company, Blackrock Neurotech. He founded and leads a BCI patient support and advocacy group called the BCI Pioneers Coalition. That Smith is even able to find ways to improve his daily BCI experience is the most exciting part of Smith’s story for Burkhart. “I am personally extremely excited to see more and more people being able to use the BCIs, in particular, in their day-to-day world.” The contrast between a webcam and a Neuralink device appears to Burkhart as another example of the rarity of “great solutions.” “Users are forced to cobble together things that may not have been designed initially to work together but can work for them,” he said. BCI users should collaborate with researchers earlier in the design process, Burkhart said. Smith talked broadly about the benefits of BCI to The Verge. He predicts a future “where BCI blends seamlessly with gadgets” like smart home devices or robotic arms. His dreams extend to controlling his wheelchair, which he uses full-time when not in bed, with his thoughts. “In the bigger picture, it’s opening doors for all ALS patients to stay productive, social, and hopeful,” Smith said. “It’s not just tech. It’s re-humanizing us, giving back agency in a world where our bodies fail. I’m excited.” Related