Controlling a computer with your Mind is possible

In the run-up to Global Accessibility Awareness Day in May, I reported on Apple’s yearly preview of the new accessibility features coming to its panoply of platforms later this year. Features like Magnifier for Mac, Accessibility Nutrition Labels, Name Recognition, and more all are now confirmed to be in Apple’s “OS 26” updates, currently in beta.

At the end of my aforementioned story, I mentioned the timing of its publication was fortuitous insofar as it coincided with a report from Rolfe Winkler of The Wall Street Journal that Apple purportedly has been developing so-called BCIs, or brain-controlled interfaces, to assist people coping with motor disabilities. Moreover, I noted that my pal Chance Miller wrote for 9to5 Mac researchers strongly believe BCI has potential to “revolutionize” the way(s) in which disabled people access computers. Miller also said Apple is expected to “add broader support for BCIs” to Switch Control later this year.

This bit of preamble is pertinent now because Miller’s colleague in Ryan Christoffel reports this week BCI maker Synchron, with whom Apple’s said to be collaborating on the technology, posted a video (embedded below) showing a man named Mark Jackson using Synchro’s BCI to control his iPad. Jackson, who has ALS, has been an early tester of the technology and was interviewed for Winkler’s piece for the Journal. Jackson is one of only 10 people to be fit with Synchro’s Stentrode implant for the FDA-approved trial. The Stentrode device uses electrodes to read brain signals and act upon them.

According to Christoffel, the description of Synchron’s video calls out a new API built by Apple, Human Interface Device (HID), which is designed to work with a BCI device. Synchron calls Jackson’s demonstration “groundbreaking” in the way he “navigates his iPad home screen, opens apps, and composes messages using only his mind.”

BCI tech, like time travel, feels like something out of a sci-fi novel—but it’s real! This “mind control” tech truly does hold profound potential to bring greater accessibility to people who have severely limited, if any at all, motor skills. On a related note, I’ve long been fascinated by the work done by Elon Musk’s Neuralink for accessibility’s sake, and would legit love to pick Musk’s brain on such a topic in an interview with me someday.