Brad Smith said his decision to hook up a webcam to the computer he controls with his mind did not make sense to people at Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company.
“Neuralink was really confused with the idea,” Smith told The Verge.
The decision came just six months after Smith’s brain was implanted with a BCI in November 2024, making him the third person to receive a Neuralink device. Smith was the first Neuralink patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which has weakened his muscles for the past seven years. While the BCI successfully replaced his eye-tracking software as his primary way to control the cursor on his laptop, it quickly became apparent that the tool’s usefulness would come down to what Smith could make of it. Using his mind to control a cursor was great for communicating more quickly and surfing the web, he said. But it’d be even better if he could use it to track his son sprinting down the soccer field.
Neuralink may not have understood why Smith wanted a periscope, but he went ahead and researched the idea on his own. He landed on the simple Insta360 Link 2 webcam — better known as a conference camera, not a medical device. “They just didn’t know why I wanted it, because they don’t know what I experience, but that is why I am here,” Smith told The Verge. (Neuralink did not respond to requests for comment.)
It’s an awesome hack, said Nathan Copeland, another BCI user — and an unsurprising move. BCIs are “just a tool,” Copeland told The Verge. He’s had a BCI from Blackrock Neurotech for over a decade. With it, Copeland has used a robotic arm to fist-bump former President Barack Obama and shake hands with ABC correspondent Will Reeve. But his daily life is still a “mishmash” of software and tech, just like Smith’s. Copeland speaks aloud to his Google Home throughout the day to dim lights or turn on the TV. He uses a custom-made controller with big buttons and a joystick, in addition to a switch controlled by puffs of air, to play video games. (He has a spinal cord injury that left him with partial control over his shoulders, biceps, and wrists.)
“I had some guy that I met on a forum make me one using arcade stick parts and taking apart an actual Xbox controller and soldering the wires and stuff,” Copeland said. “[The BCI] gives a little more agency to people [who] can’t use, like, just the normal means of doing things, but you still have to find software and hardware, things that you can use with it, to continue adapting to the world.”
BCIs like Smith’s Neuralink work by recording the conversations between the brain’s neurons. Neurons release ions in order to pass information to each other; this can be measured as changes in voltage from electrodes implanted nearby in brain tissue. As Smith thinks about moving his hand, the neurons “talk,” and small blips of electric signals transmit from the electrodes in his brain to the laptop screen elevated in front of his face. He thinks and his cursor moves.
The BCI replaced Smith’s eye-tracking software, called Eyegaze, which turned his eyeline into computer cursor movements using an infrared camera mounted above the computer screen. It’s a tiring technology, and it does not work in sunlight, which means it’s strictly for indoor use. It took Smith a few days to master his new thought-controlled cursor. Smith likened it to moving a computer mouse and forgetting you’re moving your hand and arm at all.
Using his mind-controlled cursor, Smith showed The Verge how his vision setup works. Once the webcam is plugged into his laptop, he can click buttons on the webcam’s interface to pan around and zoom in and out. He shared the webcam’s output on a video call, zooming in on a photo of himself and Tiffany taken on their wedding day.
After Smith researched the best webcam for his BCI setup, Neuralink bought it and figured out how to mount it to his wheelchair and computer, Smith said. “They were very helpful with the ways to test different setups for future users. Neuralink is trying to make it easier for people to use the system and they love the periscope.”
It’s not every day that the camera comes out. It does when the kids are playing around him, for example. Or, when a dinner guest joins the family, Smith likes to see facial expressions from his chair sat near the dining room table. Whenever he leaves the house, the camera comes with him attached to his wheelchair.
As Smith answers questions, I watch him type out his replies on the text-to-speech app Proloquo4Text, letter by letter and sometimes with full words predicted by the software.
It took him one minute and 17 seconds to respond to a question about his most typical use: “I think I use it to talk to people either in person or on the phone.” He also uses it to browse the web, he added.
His cursor moved quickly around his screen; it sometimes appeared jittery. Tiffany said that “his brain goes and goes,” which means so does his cursor. Smith showed how he locks his hyperactive cursor in the bottom-right corner of the screen in a designated “parking spot.”
In May, Smith connected with Insta360, a company known for action cameras and swiveling webcams like the Link 2. The company adjusted the Link 2 control panel to meet Smith’s desire for the camera to turn faster and pivot farther with each click. The camera remained the same, but each click on a custom-built control panel moved the camera three times as fast, up to roughly 15 degrees per second. A second custom control panel gave Smith the ability to rotate the camera by 0.5 degrees.
Before the conference camera, before the BCI, there was a bell and other everyday hacks to meet the needs of Smith’s increasingly limited mobility. Smith opted for a $20 dog bell, the kind placed at dog height next to doors, instead of an expensive nurse call button. Smith amplified his voice as it grew weaker with a microphone that made him feel like a Backstreet Boy. He used a runner’s phone holder armband to secure his phone to the top of his thigh in the perfect spot under his hand so he could drag his fingers across the screen. Now, he programs frequently used phrases and favorite movie quotes into his text-to-speech software, allowing him to participate in the swiftly moving conversations progressing around him.
“Many normal things are useful for disabilities,” Smith said. When asked if he thinks of himself as innovative, Smith demurred. “I just think about how to solve a problem,” he said, joking, “and Tiffany is cheap.”
Disability unearths creativity, former BCI user Ian Burkhart said in an interview with The Verge. People with disabilities are “forced to make adjustments and find solutions to navigate life,” Burkhart said. He is paralyzed from the chest down due to a spinal cord injury in his neck from a driving accident in 2010.
Unlike Smith, who uses his Neuralink BCI at home, Burkhart experienced BCI technology within the confines of the research lab. From 2014 to 2021, Burkhart was part of a clinical research trial at The Ohio State University with the longest-standing BCI company, Blackrock Neurotech. He founded and leads a BCI patient support and advocacy group called the BCI Pioneers Coalition.
That Smith is even able to find ways to improve his daily BCI experience is the most exciting part of Smith’s story for Burkhart. “I am personally extremely excited to see more and more people being able to use the BCIs, in particular, in their day-to-day world.”
The contrast between a webcam and a Neuralink device appears to Burkhart as another example of the rarity of “great solutions.” “Users are forced to cobble together things that may not have been designed initially to work together but can work for them,” he said. BCI users should collaborate with researchers earlier in the design process, Burkhart said.
Smith talked broadly about the benefits of BCI to The Verge. He predicts a future “where BCI blends seamlessly with gadgets” like smart home devices or robotic arms. His dreams extend to controlling his wheelchair, which he uses full-time when not in bed, with his thoughts.
“In the bigger picture, it’s opening doors for all ALS patients to stay productive, social, and hopeful,” Smith said. “It’s not just tech. It’s re-humanizing us, giving back agency in a world where our bodies fail. I’m excited.”
