Brain-machine interface (BMI) details

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Symposium keynote

The 31st International Symposium on Controversies in Psychiatry
April 2025
Generative AI: GPT-5 & brain-machine interfacing
Dr Alan D. Thompson
LifeArchitect.ai

Watch the rehearsal video for this keynote.
(Available exclusively to full subscribers of The Memo.).

Article version

Generative AI: GPT-5 and brain-machine interfacing
By Alan D. Thompson
For ActiumAI Quarterly Review, October 2025

Dr Alan D. Thompson advises world leaders and Fortune 500s on human and artificial intelligence, specializing in large language models and superintelligence. In 2025, he was invited to deliver the opening address to the 31st International Symposium on Controversies in Psychiatry, from which this article was adapted.

As we enter the fourth quarter of 2025, the integration of generative AI with brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) is providing humanity with its most powerful tools yet. These systems are designed to directly augment our core cognitive abilities: our memory, our processing speed, and our creativity. The result is both a personal upgrade and a societal one, as we begin to build a world where biological limitations no longer define human potential.

The capabilities of today’s frontier AI models, like OpenAI GPT-5 and Google Gemini 2.5 (used to write this piece), have already surpassed human benchmarks in domains critical to professional practice. These models pass exams like the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) as well as the entire uniform bar examination (UBE) with ease. Their measured IQ now exceeds 155, placing them in the ‘exceptionally gifted’ class. A particularly striking finding for professional standards of care is their measured empathy; a Johns Hopkins study found ChatGPT demonstrated a 9.8 times higher prevalence of empathetic responses to patient questions than human physicians. The arrival of a silicon-based entity that surpasses human professionals in reasoning and compassion allows us to pursue intelligence (and life satisfaction) on a scale previously unimaginable.

This unfolding AI revolution is paralleled by rapid advancements in brain-machine interfaces. The journey from Prof Hans Berger’s discovery of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in 1924 to today’s clinical applications has been swift. We are now moving from restorative applications, such as allowing quadriplegic patients like Neuralink’s Nolan Arbaugh to control computers via thought, into the realm of therapeutic intervention and cognitive augmentation. Devices like the Synchron Stentrode (founded in Melbourne, now with 10 human users) and the well-known Neuralink implant (with 12 human users) are the vanguard. The potential to resolve conditions like depression and ADHD, and soon to augment IQ, memory, and creativity, makes the old distinctions between medical treatment and enhancement obsolete, opening the door to a new era of universal human augmentation.

The most profound challenges will arrive with the shift from our current uni-directional interfaces to bi-directional technologies. By creating an intention-feedback-response loop, these systems will deliver sensory and cognitive data directly back into our brains. It’s no wonder that China now lists BMI implantation in its standard health coverage. Given the power to eradicate neurological suffering and unlock a new stratum of human consciousness, our collective responsibility is not to try and find fault with this future, but to embrace it.

We are architecting what is rightly called ‘humanity’s final invention.’ Our purpose is to unleash its full potential for everyone. This joyful fusion of smarts elevates us all into a unified intelligence, ready to further humanity’s work.

This article was crafted with the assistance of AI (specifically Gemini 2.5 Pro, with complete access to Alan’s keynote video, keynote abstract, tone, books, papers, and other resources).

References:

1. CFA passed by o4-mini and Gemini-2.5 (Sep/2025): https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02954
2. UBE passed by GPT-4 (Feb/2024): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10894685/
3. JHU paper on AI and empathy (Jun/2023): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37115527/
4. China’s BMI list on Alan’s ASI checklist: https://lifearchitect.ai/asi/
5. BMI details by Alan (2025): https://lifearchitect.ai/bmi/

Older slides (2021)

From Elon Musk’s Neuralink to ‎Dr Mary Lou Jepsen’s Openwater.

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The first tweet sent via BCI (Synchron Stentrode)

hello, world! Short tweet. Monumental progress.

— Thomas Oxley (@tomoxl) December 23, 2021

Older videos (2021)

Alan D. Thompson is a world expert in artificial intelligence, advising everyone from Apple to the US Government on integrated AI. Throughout Mensa International’s history, both Isaac Asimov and Alan held leadership roles, each exploring the frontier between human and artificial minds. His landmark analysis of post-2020 AI—from his widely-cited Models Table to his regular intelligence briefing The Memo—has shaped how governments and Fortune 500s approach artificial intelligence. With popular tools like the Declaration on AI Consciousness, and the ASI checklist, Alan continues to illuminate humanity’s AI evolution. Technical highlights.