We're Already Living in Science Fiction: The Neurotech Revolution Turning Thought into Speech and Restoring Movement

From translating thought into near‑instant speech to helping some paralysed people walk again, neurotechnology is advancing rapidly — delivering medical promise while triggering urgent ethical questions.

“People do not realise how much we're already living in science fiction,” Anne Vanhoestenberghe of King's College London told AFP. Vanhoestenberghe leads a lab that develops electronic implants for the nervous system, including devices for the brain and electrodes that interface with the spinal cord.

It has been a notable few years for the field. In June, researchers in California reported a brain implant that can translate the thoughts of a man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) into words in roughly one‑fortieth of a second. At the same time, teams in Switzerland have used spinal implants to help several paralysed patients regain substantial motor control — in some cases enabling walking again.

These pioneering trials remain exploratory and do not yet restore full speech or mobility for all patients. Many devices require invasive surgery, and major challenges remain in scaling the technologies, ensuring long‑term safety, and making treatments accessible worldwide.

“The general public is unaware of what is already out there and changing lives,” Vanhoestenberghe said, noting that devices are improving at a striking pace. “Previously it took thousands of hours of training before someone could compose several words using their thoughts. Now it only takes a couple.”

— Musk, start‑ups and AI —

Progress has been driven by deeper scientific understanding of the brain and by engineering advances that have miniaturised hardware for implantation. Artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms have accelerated development by interpreting neural data more quickly and accurately than earlier methods.

Since the late 2000s a wave of start‑ups has raised tens of billions of dollars to fund research that is beginning to yield concrete results. The most publicised company, Elon Musk's Neuralink, says it has implanted its chip in 12 people. While Musk has made ambitious claims about the technology's potential, independent experts urge caution about current capabilities and timelines.

“Neuralink is currently just smoke and mirrors, with a lot of hype,” said Herve Chneiweiss, a neurologist and ethics specialist at France's INSERM. He warned that once commercial products appear, debate and regulation may lag behind deployment.

Beyond therapeutic goals, some companies are exploring cognitive enhancement — using computing interfaces to augment human mental abilities. Musk has said he envisions a form of human‑AI "symbiosis," a prospect that raises profound social and ethical questions.

— Innermost thoughts under threat —

Concerns about privacy, consent, and data ownership have grown alongside the technology. UNESCO recently approved non‑binding recommendations for national regulation of neurotechnology; those recommendations are due to take effect this week. The guidance uses a broad definition of neurotech that can include wearable devices such as smartwatches and headsets that infer a user's mental state.

“Today, the main risk is invasion of privacy: our innermost thoughts are under threat,” Chneiweiss warned, noting hypothetical scenarios in which neural data could be misused by employers or other actors.

Some jurisdictions are already moving to protect citizens. Late last year California enacted a law to protect consumers' brain data — an early example of legal steps aimed at safeguarding neural information as the technology matures.

As neurotech moves from laboratory proof‑of‑concepts toward practical applications, policymakers, clinicians and the public face hard choices about safety, equity, and the limits of acceptable use. The technology's potential to transform lives is real — but so are the risks if governance and ethics fail to keep pace.