OpenAI's venture capital arm and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund are investing in Coherence, a startup developing a brain implant to detect and treat brain tumours. The investments form part of a $45 million seed round and reflect Big Tech's growing interest in brain-computer interfaces, devices that decode brain activity.
CEO and cofounder Ben Woodington says there is "growing synergy" between large AI companies and firms building such devices. He argues AI is a "perfect use case": the devices generate datasets too large for humans to analyse, and models can read raw neural data and link it to actions such as moving a cursor or producing synthetic speech.
Unlike many companies in the field that aim to restore function for paralysed people, Coherence is developing AI models to decode the faint electrical signals associated with brain tumours. The company says it already knows how to detect these signals in animals, to determine whether cancer is growing, shrinking or recurring, and is working to translate the findings into human research and eventually clinical trials.
This summer Coherence tested the recording capability of its implant in three people undergoing brain tumour removal at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia. The implant stayed in place for about 30 minutes as an initial safety check. It is now testing recording and stimulation in seven more patients.
The implant is also designed to emit mild electrical stimulation to halt tumour growth. The idea is that over time the device would learn to detect cancer-related signals and deliver treatment in real time. With the new funding, Coherence plans a clinical trial of long-term implants in patients with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, and aims to develop implants for cancers elsewhere in the body.
"Coherence's approach to developing a cancer therapy capable of improving from data is incredibly innovative," says Ian Hathaway, partner at the OpenAI Startup Fund. Woodington says OpenAI will not have access to its data: nothing in the contracts provides for sharing brain or health data the company generates.
That differs from OpenAI's relationship with Merge Labs, the brain-computer interface company cofounded by CEO Sam Altman. In January OpenAI said it would collaborate with Merge Labs on scientific foundation models and other frontier tools.
Research on brain-monitoring tools is also advancing elsewhere. Scientists from Tsinghua University and the Chinese PLA Medical School have developed Airscope, a one-gram wireless device that records the activity of thousands of neurons at once in untethered lab animals, described in a paper in Nature.
No comments yet. Be the first!