Have you ever thought that grabbing your phone to search for something on Google was just too much hassle? I can relate.
From identifying the actor in a film you’re watching to discovering the latest air fryer recipe, we depend heavily on the internet for a variety of information.
Thanks to voice-activated digital assistants on our phones, we sometimes don’t even need to physically type out our Google searches.
If the idea of browsing the web using only your mind sounds appealing, you’re in luck.
A graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has invented a device that allows individuals to search the internet using just their brainpower.
Called AlterEgo, this innovative headset lets the user “communicate” with technology without uttering a word or typing a single letter.
It may seem like something straight out of science fiction, but here’s the science behind it.
The device captures signals when the user internally verbalizes specific words.
This data is then sent to machines, which use the internet to provide the answer.
Without the need to speak, type, or make any physical movement, the device can search the web and relay the correct answer back to the user through vibrations in the skull, reaching the inner ear.
The response is perceived similarly to an internal voice, without disrupting the user’s normal auditory experience.
AlterEgo can look up information, solve math problems, and answer a wide range of questions.
“This enables a human-computer interaction that is subjectively experienced as completely internal to the human user – like speaking to one’s self,” MIT Media Lab elaborates.
“This allows a user to send and receive streams of information to and from a computing device or another person discreetly, without any observable action, without disconnecting from their surroundings, and without compromising privacy.”
In a demonstration video, AlterEgo developer Arnav Kapur successfully provides the answer to a challenging maths problem with ease.
He is also asked to identify Bulgaria’s largest city and provide the region’s population, both of which he answers accurately.
Kapur envisions having the entire internet accessible in his mind.
The device also serves another purpose, as MIT points out: “A primary focus of this project is to support communication for individuals with speech disorders, including conditions like ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and MS (multiple sclerosis).
“Beyond that, the system holds the potential to seamlessly merge humans and computers, allowing technology, the Internet, and AI to become a ‘second self’ that enhances our cognitive functions and abilities.”