The Scott-Morgan Basis and Lenovo debuted a brand new expertise suite combining predictive AI, hyper-realistic avatars, customized voices, and eye-gaze monitoring
SEATTLE, WA, October 15, 2024 – Right now, at Lenovo Tech World ’24, world expertise chief Lenovo and the Scott-Morgan Basis (SMF), a non-profit pioneering progressive assistive tech, revealed an AI-powered resolution for individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and different extreme disabilities. The brand new, scalable tech reveals new prospects for making use of generative AI to accessibility challenges and additional advances a shared imaginative and prescient of delivering Smarter AI for all.
The built-in resolution combines a round keyboard interface designed by SMF and constructed by Lenovo, predictive AI from Lenovo, customized AI voice replicas from ElevenLabs, hyper-realistic avatars from D-ID, and eye-tracking tech from IrisBond to offer quick, correct, and private communication.
The proof of idea, now in energetic testing with SMF’s neighborhood of individuals with ALS and main clinicians, builds on years of collaboration between SMF and Lenovo to reimagine and scale assistive expertise. Specializing in ALS, a neurodegenerative dysfunction that usually results in full-body paralysis, evokes options that profit numerous different ailments and disabilities.
Lenovo Tech World opened with a narrative of a father not too long ago identified with ALS utilizing the expertise to inform tales and sing lullabies to his two younger kids in his personal voice.
“That is Smarter AI for All: making use of transformative applied sciences to probably the most urgent human challenges,” stated Linda Yao, Vice President of AI Options and Providers at Lenovo. “With compassionate companions just like the Scott-Morgan Basis and a daring imaginative and prescient to deliver AI to everybody, we’re utilizing our AI experience and portfolio to point out how shiny the longer term may be.”
The collaboration emerged from the SMF mission to interrupt down boundaries between applied sciences and democratize life-changing options that guarantee a common proper to thrive.
“We stay in a world the place over half a billion individuals are silenced, not by selection, however by incapacity,” stated LaVonne Roberts, Government Director of SMF. “Think about a world the place even probably the most severely disabled people can absolutely categorical themselves, the place cutting-edge expertise offers voice to the unvoiced. We’re not simply imagining this world—we’re constructing it along with Lenovo. With over 500 million individuals worldwide grappling with muscular or neurological situations, our work has the potential to influence lives on a large scale.”
Dwell at Lenovo Tech World
Erin Taylor, a incapacity advocate and botany fanatic with ALS, used the expertise to introduce herself after which welcome Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang to the stage at Tech World.
“I discover renewed energy and hope after I see what is feasible via expertise, particularly with the most recent advances in AI,” stated Erin, who shares her experiences and perspective with a quickly rising social media viewers. “Talking with my voice because it sounded pre-diagnosis is unbelievable, after all, however what excites me most is collaborating within the growth of smarter expertise for others.”
Erin additionally helped demo the expertise on the present flooring and continues to supply key suggestions to the event workforce.
Constructing on early designs first unveiled at CES 2024, Lenovo spearheaded the event of a completely purposeful, absolutely built-in prototype.
“We prioritized human-centric design and leveraged our experience in progressive person experiences,” stated Lenovo UX prototyper Daniel Pollock, who led the interface growth. “It’s an absolute privilege to contribute and collaborate on this challenge and incorporate such highly effective AI expertise.”
Constructing a consortium of AI innovation
Conventional voice banking is an arduous course of, usually restricted by the vocal deterioration that may emerge as an early symptom of ALS. Previous fashions additionally suffered from a transparent lack of emotional expressiveness, restricted to robotic cadences and unnatural rhythms—however AI has modified all that. Now, restricted audio samples, even of poor high quality, can generate a compelling, on-demand AI voice.
“Over the previous yr, we’ve been deeply impressed by people reclaiming their voices regardless of all of the challenges, and we’re grateful for the possibility to play a small half in that course of,” stated Mati Staniszewski, CEO of ElevenLabs. “Now, with the unbelievable assist of the Scott-Morgan Basis, we’re taking these efforts to the following degree. We’re proud to assist take away communication boundaries and empower individuals.”
That personalized voice feeds instantly into the avatar expertise from D-ID. Once more, scalability and ease are a precedence with assistive tech, and D-ID is ready to generate lifelike avatars from nonetheless photographs or very restricted video.
“This highly effective expertise is so usually used for enterprise or leisure—which after all we like to see and assist—however selling social good is the place we see it make a lifechanging influence. D-ID has a protracted observe document of leveraging its expertise to assist worthy causes resembling combatting home violence, elevating consciousness of intercourse trafficking, and quite a few training and advocacy efforts,” stated Gil Perry, co-founder and CEO of D-ID. “Working with this collaboration completely suits our technique of utilizing AI to make the world higher and extra related.”
The entire resolution at present runs on Lenovo’s ThinkPad x12 removable PC, which provides a super union of energy and portability. The removable kind issue helps the gadget mount readily on quite a lot of surfaces—from kitchen tables to wheelchairs—and combine IrisBond’s eye-tracking {hardware} and software program. Right here, IrisBond used their Hiru digicam, which works throughout platforms and beneath totally different situations to exactly observe eye motion. Lenovo can be creating extra customized AI fashions to facilitate communication.
“We’ve been working with SMF for a couple of years to assist disrupt the assistive tech panorama and provides individuals higher company and independence,” stated Eduardo Jauregui Torrecilla, CEO of IrisBond. “We have now a historical past of hands-on assist and growth for individuals with ALS, cerebral palsy, and numerous situations the place the attention is our biggest device to speak—and AI is remodeling what’s doable in extraordinary methods.”
The Scott-Morgan Basis will work instantly with clinicians, technologists, and folks with ALS to additional refine and check the expertise.
This resolution was one of many desires of visionary roboticist Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan, who handed in 2022. On the time, rendering an avatar or talking with a banked voice was time-consuming, costly, resource-intensive, and much much less expressive and correct than what’s doable with generative AI.
“The expertise has leapt ahead immeasurably in simply the previous two years, pushed by AI,” stated Andrew Morgan, CEO of the Scott-Morgan Basis. “We have now all the time believed that AI is the gateway for a revolution in assistive expertise, however we have to bang the drum and advocate for these options—to offer a voice to those that want it most and embrace them within the course of. We’re nonetheless in uncharted territory, and I can’t wait to see what options we pioneer and democratize subsequent.”
