A paralyzed woman speaks with the help of artificial intelligence and an avatar

Researchers at the Universities of San Francisco and Berkeley have developed an innovative new communication system. It relies on an electrode that is triggered in the speech center of the brain, the Guardian writes.

The implant picks up electrical signals from brain cells that drive the mouth, lips and tongue to formulate words.

Emotions can show

A self-learning algorithm, artificial intelligence, converts the information into computer speech, which is then played back by an on-screen avatar. An avatar can also show emotion through different facial expressions, such as smiling, frowning, or appearing surprised.

The hope is that the new technology will help people who have lost the ability to speak for various reasons. Today, aids such as eye-movement-controlled speech synthesis, a slow method that performs at about 14 words per minute, are used.

The new AI avatar pronounces 78 words per minute, which is a huge improvement, while it’s still a bit far from normal speech, which is over 150 words per minute.

We hope to be able to work with your advice

The Guardian writes that one of the people who managed to test the new technology was 47-year-old Anne. She lost the ability to speak after suffering a stroke. After just over a week of training, the AI ​​avatar learned to recognize Ann’s sign pattern of more than 1,000 words. According to the newspaper, Anne now hopes to be able to work as a consultant in the future, with the help of the avatar.

However, the AI ​​avatar isn’t perfect, misinterpreting 28 percent of the words in a test of more than 500 different phrases. But according to the researchers, the development is progressing very quickly, and a major breakthrough is expected soon, which could make the new technology practically available to patients all over the world.

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