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‘Deepfaking the mind’ could improve brain-computer interfaces for people with disabilities

Posted in information science, robotics/AI

Researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering are using generative adversarial networks (GANs)—technology best known for creating deepfake videos and photorealistic human faces—to improve brain-computer interfaces for people with disabilities.

In a paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the team successfully taught an AI to generate synthetic brain activity data. The data, specifically called spike trains, can be fed into to improve the usability of (BCI).

BCI systems work by analyzing a person’s brain signals and translating that into commands, allowing the user to control like computer cursors using only their thoughts. These devices can improve quality of life for people with motor dysfunction or paralysis, even those struggling with locked-in syndrome—when a person is fully conscious but unable to move or communicate.

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