University of Michigan Health

Stories

Paradromics brain implant lets patient communicate in real time

As of September 2026: One of three sites in the Connect-One trial

A Michigan woman with motor neuron disease recently called her grandchildren. She didn't use her voice — a brain implant decoded her intended words and spoke them through a synthesizer. Her first freely chosen sentence: "Okay, I have a lot to say."

Updated Sep 14

AI systems advance toward autonomous medical diagnosis

New Capabilities

As of June 2026: Developer of Prima AI system

University of Michigan researchers published Prima in February 2026, an AI that reads brain MRIs in seconds with up to 97.5% accuracy across 50 neurological conditions. In April 2026, Harvard Medical School reported that OpenAI's o1 model correctly diagnosed emergency patients 67% of the time, compared to 50–55% for two attending physicians reviewing the same cases.

Updated Jun 24