Meta claims its brain typing tech has an 80% success rate

Meta has a tool that could let you type with your mind. The technology was announced in 2017, and according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, would allow you to type “straight from your brain”.

However, a new report covering recently published research papers around it claims that Meta’s brain typing tool is currently stuck in a laboratory. While the $2 million, half-ton device is stuck, Meta claims to have managed to achieve an 80% success rate.

Unlike Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which involves invasive surgery, Meta has managed to complete this with an over-the-head device. While Neuralink has allowed paralyzed individuals to control a mouse cursor through their brain.

However, the technology has been rejected by patients’ bodies, requiring more invasive surgery. Meta envisions that its brain-reading typing will be more of a hat or band.

Currently – and according to Meta’s papers – it detects which keys the user would have pressed, and with 80% accuracy, can make full sentences through signals alone.

The tests were conducted by 35 people, who spent 20 hours or so “typing” phrases. According to the reports and papers, this was then fed into another system, Brain2Qwerty. The deep learning system will then be able to be utilized to essentially read the signals based on the information it has absorbed.

So if 100 people all have the same brain signal pressing the letter “K”, the algorithm behind Brain2Qwerty should then match that with future users.

However, it does currently have a 32% error rate. Breaking this down further it gets things wrong every one in three.

This isn’t the first time the company has attempted this, however. While it didn’t rescind every ounce of funding, it did cancel full-on plans in 2021. It has now pivoted back to exploring the technology, particularly as more companies also race to perfect it.

Featured image: Flickr, Logitech, Keychron, Apple

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