
A student of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has invented an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled device that helps people to converse in a natural language with machines, AI assistants, services, and other people without any voice. People don't have to open their mouths and don't have to make any externally observable movements. They can simply converse articulating words internally.
The device, named AlterEgo has been developed by Arnav Kapur, a resident of India's national capital Delhi who is currently a student of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab.
As per the MIT Media Lab's website, AlterEgo captures peripheral neural signals when internal speech articulators are volitionally and neurologically activated, during a user's internal articulation of words.
"This enables a user to transmit and receive streams of information to and from a computing device or any other person without any observable action, in discretion, without unplugging the user from her environment, without invading the user's privacy," the website reads.
A viral video shows Kapur wearing the device, and answering questions in an interview. The interviewer asks Kapur questions and the MIT student responds without uttering a single word. "You have the entire internet in your head," the interviewer said.
Here's a look at the video:
The website also states that the primary focus of AlterEgo is to help support communication for people with speech disorders including conditions like ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and MS (multiple sclerosis).
"Beyond that, the system has the potential to seamlessly integrate humans and computers—such that computing, the Internet, and AI would weave into our daily life as a "second self" and augment our cognition and abilities."
WATCH WION LIVE HERE
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.