Meta’s Brain-Typing AI is Impressive—But Don’t Expect It Anytime Soon

[techstack]

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Back in 2017, Facebook (now Meta) promised a future where people could type using only their thoughts. Years later, the company has delivered—sort of. Meta’s latest brain-computer interface, unveiled in two research papers, can decode brain signals and predict what letter a person is typing with up to 80% accuracy. However, there’s a catch: the system requires a half-ton, $2 million magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanner that must be used in a shielded room, making it completely impractical for real-world use.

Unlike invasive brain implants like Neuralink’s, which require surgery but offer higher precision, Meta’s method reads signals from outside the skull using AI-driven deep learning. The research, conducted with 35 volunteers in Spain, sheds light on how the brain processes language—suggesting that sentence formation follows a hierarchical structure, from thoughts down to individual letters.

While this is a significant scientific achievement, Meta admits there’s no commercial future for the technology in its current form. Instead, the company sees brain research as a stepping stone for developing AI systems that better mimic human intelligence, particularly in language processing. For now, brain-typing remains an intriguing lab experiment rather than the next big breakthrough in consumer tech.

Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/07/1111292/meta-has-an-ai-for-brain-typing-but-its-stuck-in-the-lab/

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