{"id":1605963,"date":"2025-12-15T16:24:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?p=1605963"},"modified":"2025-12-15T16:24:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:24:18","slug":"built-by-and-for-people-with-paralysis-this-als-tech-gives-a-i-a-human-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/2025\/12\/built-by-and-for-people-with-paralysis-this-als-tech-gives-a-i-a-human-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Built by and for People With Paralysis, This ALS Tech Gives A.I. a Human Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bernard Muller, CTO of The Scott-Morgan Foundation. Courtesy The Scott-Morgan Foundation<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When British roboticist Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan was diagnosed with ALS in 2017, he was told the disease would gradually take his voice, his movement and, eventually, his place in the world. But he refused to accept the idea that losing speech should mean losing identity. As his body weakened, the Scott-Morgan turned to technology, experimenting with voice synthesis, gaze interfaces and avatar-based communication. His public transformation earned him the description of the world\u2019s first \u201chuman cyborg<\/span><\/a>,\u201d but the label masked a deeper ambition: to redefine how disability and technologies like A.I. can evolve together.<\/p>\n

Following his death in 2022, the Scott-Morgan Foundation (SMF) carried forward his mission. The organization began translating Scott-Morgan\u2019s philosophy of dignity-by-design into real-world technology. One of those efforts took shape through Bernard Muller, the Foundation\u2019s chief technologist, who is fully paralyzed by ALS. Muller began architecting and co-developing what would become VoXAI.<\/p>\n

\u201cI built VoxAI letter by letter with my eyes. It\u2019s slow, it\u2019s stubborn work, but when your need is real, you just keep going,\u201d Muller told Observer, responding through the VoXAI system. \u201cI used A.I. agents as my ‘extra hands,’ breaking tasks into small steps, testing, refining and letting automation do what my body no longer can. Earlier tools were less intelligent and basically limited to typing letters\u2014useful, but hardly empowering.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ALS currently affects tens of thousands of people<\/a> in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands worldwide. As the condition progresses, up to 95 percent of patients eventually lose the ability to communicate through natural speech. Available solutions remain expensive and imperfect. High-end Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices\u2014especially those requiring specialized hardware like eye tracking\u2014often cost between $10,000 and $15,000. For decades, that barrier has left millions effectively voiceless, relying on systems that flatten emotion and erase identity.<\/p>\n

VoXAI was unveiled last week at the AI Summit New York. It’s a product of collaboration among Israeli A.I. startup D-ID, voice A.I. company ElevenLabs, Irisbond, Lenovo, Nvidia and several academic partners. D-ID\u2019s real-time avatar engine animates facial expressions, micro-emotions and natural mouth movements;\u00a0Irisbond\u2019s hardware enables precise eye-tracking control; ElevenLabs\u2019 voice synthesis recreates the user\u2019s pre-illness voice; Nvidia GPUs provide the real-time A.I. performance required for near-zero latency; and Lenovo supplies the robust hardware environment that keeps the system stable and accessible.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2017 in Israel, D-ID initially gained recognition for its privacy technology and became a pioneer in generative A.I. video in 2019. Its systems now power digital presenters, learning companions and interactive avatars for Fortune 500 companies and public institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to disability, the biggest blind spot is assuming it is too small or niche to matter commercially,\u201d Gil Perry, co-founder and CEO of D-ID, told Observer. \u201cWe believe that expressive, real-time digital presence is becoming a new layer of communication infrastructure, and accessibility is where that value is most clear and most urgent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor some people, expressive presence is a benefit; for others, it\u2019s a lifeline,\u201d Perry added. \u201cHealth care and assistive-tech providers needed a dependable expressive avatar layer that could plug into their systems and make communication feel truly human for those it matters most to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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