Telepathy, until proven otherwise, is still science fiction. But a new wearable announced this week aims to bring the world closer to silent communication, though it’s more about harnessing brain signals than an X-Men superpower.
Alterego, developed by the MIT Media Lab, is a peripheral neural interface that allows us to talk to machines, artificial intelligence assistants, and people without using our voice or externally observable movements.
We first saw the alter ego as a prototype in 2018. It was a wearable that strapped to the face from ear to chin. Since then, it has gotten significantly smaller and more capable.
The device works by detecting signals that the brain sends out before you speak out loud. The new wearable technology, called Silent Sense, can detect the full spectrum of speech produced by its wearer, including the words that make up the speech. Alterego’s generative artificial intelligence then responds, and these communications are sent to the wearer via a bone conduction speaker.
While it can’t sense thoughts, the company describes Alterego as “the world’s first near-telepathic wearable that enables silent communication at the speed of thought.” It’s not telepathy, but by interpreting your inner voice, it’s a step toward speaking without speaking.
Introducing alterego: the world’s first near-telepathic wearable that enables silent communication at the speed of thought.
Alterego makes AI an extension of the human mind.
Since we started at MIT, we’ve made several breakthroughs.
We’re announcing them today. pic.twitter.com/kx5mxuibak— alterego (@alterego_io) September 8, 2025
Alterego is an embedded camera system that will let you point to something you see and silently ask about it. In a demo video, CEO Arnav Kapur circles a character’s face on a postcard, asks who it is (without speaking), and gets a response with the character’s details.
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You can also use the wearable to set reminders, control your device hands-free, and type, all as fast as you can think.
It gets even more interesting when two different people are wearing the device. You can have silent conversations with each other and even have a message translated into another language for the receiver. Because Alterego uses your brain signals and mouth movements to determine what you want to say, communication is not affected by external sounds or movements.
The device could also prove to be a huge medical victory, as it could restore speech to those who have lost it due to disease or other disorders.
Alterego believes this is just the beginning and that it is “building a future where humans and AI collaborate at the speed of thought, bridging the gap between mind and machine.”
You can sign up for early access when the wearable is available on alterego.io Locally
