Soon, Facebook Will Know What You're Thinking

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Imagine a device that could accurately decode what you’re thinking in real time.

It might seem like science fiction, but a team of researchers funded by Facebook were able to do it, according to a research paper published July 30 in Nature Communications.

The implications are enormous.

Facebook Reality Labs, an advanced research arm inside the social media giant, began working with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco in 2017 to prove a thesis advanced by Mark Chevillet, an FRL research director.

Chevillet, a neuroscientist and veteran of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, has been thinking about brain-computer interfaces all of his adult life, according to a Facebook Tech blog post.

But in the past, attempts have always involved robotics and surgically implanted electrodes.

A research team led by Stanford University in 2017 made remarkable progress with tiny brain implants. One ALS sufferer, with the help of a brain computer interface, was able to respond to a series of questions using her mind only. Another patient set a new mind typing record, punching out “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” at a rate of 8 words per minute.

The FRL project is considerably more ambitious, as there is no implant. The goal is to build a non-invasive device capable of decoding speech in real time, at a rate of 100 words per minute. Such advancements would allow the project to go beyond helping people with paralysis think about moving a cursor across a keyboard.

The idea met with plenty of skepticism when it was announced in April 2017 at F8, the Facebook developer conference. IEEE Spectrum, a popular engineering magazine, reported that even Chevillet admitted neuroscientists were unsure where speech lived in the brain.

That’s why the research published this week in Nature Communications is so impressive. UCSF and FRL researchers were able to build a brain-computer interface that is capable of accurately decoding dialogue in real time based on brain signals alone.

The research could restore communication to millions of patients who have lost the ability to speak after a stroke or spinal cord injury.

The data could also be lucrative for Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer, has long aspired to for a device that would unlock Facebook to millions of new members. Chevillet says the research sets the course for defining what a potential wearable device might look like. For the moment, the Menlo Park company is focused on augmented reality glasses.

It’s easy to get caught up with labels involving big tech. Facebook is a social media company because it derives most of its current revenue from its social platform. But the company employs thousands of engineers across every major scientific field. Most of these very smart people are working to develop what comes next. It isn’t unrealistic that the next big technological innovation could come from them.

Facebook shares trade at 20.5x forward earnings and 8.9x sales. These multiples are at the low end of historic ranges despite the exciting growth potential that lies ahead.

FB has been in our Shockwave portfolio since it was beaten up in April. Long-term investors should continue to use weakness to accumulate shares.
Source: https://www.forbes.com

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