Hearing yourself speak again, after losing that ability, is an indescribable joy. Bradford G Smith, the third person in the world and only non-verbal with ALS to receive Elon Musk's Neuralink brain implant, can finally speak again in his old voice after losing it to the neurodegenerative disorder, this time with the help of AI.
Completely paralysed, and dependent on a ventilator to keep him alive, Brad is unable to move his body except the eyes and corners of his mouth. Brad's quality of life has improved manifold after getting the innovative implant. His old voice has been cloned by AI from the recordings before he lost his voice. Content and happy with this new blessing, Brad shared excitement with his followers, and spoke at length about the marvels of the brain implant.
ALS, a neurodegenerative disorder, kills the motor neurons that control the muscles, but doesn't affect the mind. This means that Brad can listen to people and understand what they are saying clearly. It all started with a shoulder injury that wouldn't heal, and from there, things only got worse, leading to his current condition.
Brad recalls his frustrating 'Batman' days when an eye gaze control computer helped him with all communications, but it worked best in dark rooms. With Neuralink, he can step out in the daylight and feel a little more normal.
"The implant is in my motor cortex, which is the part of my brain that controls body movement."
Brad explained that the implant replaced a section of his skull, and that the threads were inserted just a few millimeters into his brain by a robot, avoiding the blood vessels so that there is no bleeding.
The device has 1024 electrodes, which captures his neuron activity and transmits it to a computer, where AI processes the data and decodes Brad's intended movements in real time to move the cursor.
Through the brain implant, Brad can control the cursor with his tongue and 'click' by clenching his jaws. This breakthrough was achieved after the initial attempts of controlling it with his hands failed.
The technology allows him to communicate through a computer, and he spends time training the system by moving a cursor across the screen.
"I created a custom keypad using the Mac accessibility keyboard to simplify common tasks," Brad said. "Things like select all, copy, paste, undo, and page navigation are all really helpful. I can also use the toolbar and shortcuts to speed things up."
With ALS, Brad can think faster than he can type which could be a challenge, so he worked with the team at Neuralink to create a chat application that uses AI to listen to the conversation and produce options to say as responses.
"It uses Grok 3 and an AI clone of my old voice to generate options for me to say," Smith said. "It is not perfect, but it keeps me in the conversation, and it comes up with some great ideas.
Brad and his wife, Tiffany, have walked through many trials together. Both their son and daughter were born with Hirschsprung’s disease, and their daughter also lives with a heart defect and Down syndrome. Before ALS, Brad lived a life full of adventure, traveling the world, meeting world leaders, standing on mountaintops, and making countless joyful memories with family and friends.
While life is anything but perfect for Brad, and he says ALS still really sucks, he focuses on the big picture.
"God loves me and my family. He has answered our prayers in unexpected ways. He has blessed my kids and our family.
"So, I'm learning to trust that God knows what he is doing," he added.
"The big picture is I am happy. Tiffany is the greatest person I've ever known, and I get to spend eternity with her. My kids are doing well, especially under the circumstances. And I can control the computer with telepathy. Life is good."
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