“Think Russian” is an infamous line in the movie Firefox, where non-invasive BCIs allow Clint Eastwood to control a Soviet jet, the MIG-31, with just his thoughts. The movie has faded from pop culture and may now sit near your dad’s VCR. However, since the release of Firefox in 1982, the technology depicted has found real-world defense applications, not just cinematic ones.
One company pioneering this technology is Telepathic, founded by Noah Shamus (CEO) and Ellery Buntel (CTO). Both attended Tufts University—Noah for undergrad and Ellery for his PhD studies. Ellery left his PhD program, and the two were united by a shared vision to create Telepathic. Telepathic is building non-invasive BCIs for defense, utilizing machine learning to decode brain signals, enabling communication via thought. Currently, the team is based in San Francisco and is raising a pre-seed round.
To understand Telepathic, you must consider the brain computer interface market as a whole. Two major categories dominate: invasive BCIs and non-invasive BCIs. On the invasive side, a well-known example is Neuralink, founded by Elon. Neuralink addresses neurological disorders through the implantation of an N1 sensor (chip) in the skull, with neural threads containing electrodes capable of detecting and stimulating neural activity, making it an invasive technology. Conversely, Telepathic uses non-invasive BCI technology with an fNIRS cap, similar (In looks) to a motion capture cap—like the ones used by basketball players in NBA 2K simulations. This cap has multiple optodes strategically placed to make contact with the head. These optodes are connected by wires to a connector that interfaces with recording equipment. No surgery is needed, making it accessible to a wider market.
Initially, Noah and Ellery tested Telepathic with stroke patients, a market with clear large-scale benefits. However, they soon considered defense applications. Enter John Boyd, a notable fighter pilot and military strategist who developed E-M theory, the OODA loop, and predicting an aircraft's performance based on its energy state. Boyd believed that machines like the F-16 don’t fight wars; people do. He emphasized the importance of enabling the next generation of warfighters. Inspired by this idea, Noah shifted focus to building non-invasive BCIs for the next generation of U.S. warfighters.
This focus clarified Telepathic's mission. Telepathic's goal is to allow military personnel to communicate through brain waves (telepathy) without speaking. Instead of modeling the entire English alphabet, they concentrated on the NATO phonetic alphabet, which consists of 26 words like Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. Clear, concise, and accurate communication is essential for the military. How is it going so far? They have achieved 76% accuracy on a subset of the alphabet in decoding brain signals to understand which words someone is thinking. The use case? Telepathic isn’t looking to replace the headset or helmet but simply the microphone, enabling communication in environments where silence is crucial. Why is this important? America lags in non-invasive BCIs, with China accounting for over 35% of worldwide patent submissions for non-implantable acquisition and sensing technology. The clock is ticking & the race to large scale deployment is on.
The magic behind Telepathic is functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a key technology in non-invasive BCIs that monitors brain activity by measuring changes in blood oxygen levels using near-infrared light. Currently, Telepathic is building individual models, as calibration is highly personalized. Even small factors, like perspiration, can affect signal noise and the quality of contact between optodes, creating excess noise for the ML model and leading to poorer quality data.
Although Telepathic is focused on defense applications for now, Noah sees potential for dual-use technologies, citing the Jeep, developed for the U.S. military in WWII, which has now become the 10th best-selling car in the U.S. (2023). Who knows? Maybe Telepathic could revolutionize the VR/XR space as well.
For now, Noah and Ellery are concentrating on “doing the hard things,” understanding that revolutionizing non-invasive BCIs won’t be easy but is essential to making the lives of those protecting our freedoms safer.