Synchron Is Doing What AI and Neuralink Both Got Wrong

For more than a decade, Thomas Oxley has argued that the human brain doesn’t need to be cut open to connect with machines. The Australian-born neurologist believed the safest path to a brain-computer interface lay not through the skull but through the bloodstream.

In 2012, while finishing his medical training in Melbourne, Oxley and biomedical engineer Nick Opie built a device that could be delivered like a stent but record brain activity instead of opening arteries. They called it the Stentrode™. Thirteen years later, that stent-like scaffold has become one of the most closely watched technologies in neuroscience.

Unlike traditional implants that require drilling into the skull, the Stentrode is inserted through a catheter in the jugular vein and positioned inside a blood vessel above the motor cortex. It records neural signals and sends them wirelessly to an external receiver, giving people with paralysis the ability to control digital devices with their thoughts.

Synchron, which moved its headquarters to Brooklyn in 2016, has run clinical trials in both the U.S. and Australia. Ten patients so far, many living with ALS or spinal injuries have used the implant to send texts, browse the web, and manage connected devices.