Reading at Intermediate level
Ray Kurzweil, the prominent artificial intelligence researcher and Google executive, has taken on a role as product and vision advisor at Subsense, a four-year-old neurotechnology company based in Palo Alto. The company is developing what it calls a noninvasive brain-computer interface (BCI)—a technology that would allow direct communication between the human brain and computers without requiring invasive surgery. Subsense's approach involves introducing charged nanoparticles into the brain intranasally (through the nose), similar to how allergy medication is administered. Once in place, these particles would be controlled via a specialized headset containing magnetic coils, enabling either stimulation of specific neurons or reading of neural activity.
Kurzweil, known for his "singularity" theory—the idea that artificial intelligence will eventually surpass human intelligence—frames this as a natural evolution beyond external devices like smartphones. "Ultimately, we want to merge [the smartphone] with the brain," he said at Wednesday's announcement. Subsense competes in a crowded field of neurotechnology startups, most notably Elon Musk's Neuralink, which has already implanted wireless chips in roughly a dozen paralyzed patients through surgical implantation. Subsense's method avoids skull drilling but remains highly invasive. The company has raised $27 million and is currently in preclinical testing phases, conducting experiments on mice. Commercial availability for medical applications, let alone consumer use, remains years away.