--- title: "Facebook Abandons Plans for Mind-Reading Headset" description: "Facebook announced that is is abandoning plans to develop a brain-computer interface headset capable of turning brain signals into spoken words." date: "2021-07-15" modified: "2021-07-15" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-abandons-mind-reading-headset" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" tags: - "brain computer interface" - "facebook" - "the digest" --- # Facebook Abandons Plans for Mind-Reading Headset ![Facebook announced that is is abandoning plans to develop a brain-computer interface headset capable of turning brain signals into spoken words.]() *\Image: Facebook\* ## Abandoning Plans In a [Wednesday blog post](), Facebook announced that it's abandoning plans to develop a brain-computer interface headset designed to convert neural signals into spoken words. The social media megacorporation is instead focusing its efforts on developing a wrist-based solution that can act as a controller inside virtual reality (VR) environments. "While we still believe in the long-term potential of head-mounted optical \[brain-computer interface\] technologies, we’ve decided to focus our immediate efforts on a different neural interface approach that has a nearer-term path to market," Facebook's blog post reads. The company has spent four years on the headset, but hasn't made much progress toward bringing a usable device to the consumer market, a reminder that deciphering noisy brain activity into usable data is extremely hard — even with considerable funding from one of the biggest companies in the world. ## Reading Minds Mark Chevillet, a neuroscientist who previously worked on the project, explained to [ *MIT Technology Review*]() why Facebook decided to jump ship. "We got lots of hands-on experience with these technologies," he told the publication. "That is why we can confidently say, as a consumer interface, a head-mounted optical silent speech device is still a very long way out. Possibly longer than we would have foreseen." Facebook was hoping to turn its mind-controlled headset interface into a revolutionary device for the masses — not just reserved for patients with paralysis, who have already been able to control robotic arms and use computers with their thoughts alone, as demonstrated in a [number]() of [experiments](). But realizing the vision without resorting to devices that have to be surgically implanted in the brain proved to be difficult. "We never had an intention to make a brain surgery product," Chevillet explained. ## Not Quite There Preliminary research funded by Facebook showed some promising results, allowing a man who experienced a stroke to type sentences at 15 words a minute. That may be an impressive scientific feat, but the technology isn't even close to where Facebook was envisioning — especially for a consumer-facing gadget. "We see applications in the foreseeable future in clinical assistive technology, but that is not where our business is," Chevillet told *MIT* *Tech*. "We are focused on consumer applications, and there is a very long way to go for that." Facebook is now leaning into developing a wrist-worn device that can read muscle signals in the arm, allowing it to function as a controller inside a VR experience. With the help of startup CTRL-Labs, which Facebook acquired back in 2019, Facebook is hoping to bring the bracelet controller to market. When that will happen, though, is anybody's guess. **READ MORE:** [Facebook is ditching plans to make an interface that reads the brain]() \[*MIT Technology Review*\] **More on the headset:** *[Facebook is Making Progress on Its Mind Reading Headset]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()