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Conference Presentation, Keynote

How AI Saved My Life and Will Save Yours | Olivier Goy, Paris Brain Institute | RAISE 2026

RAISE SummitOlivier Goy
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Diagnosis and Personal Context

  • On December 8, 2020, the speaker received an ALS diagnosis with a projected survival window of two to five years.
  • The disease progresses by isolating the mind while physically removing legs, hands, breath, and voice, leaving the patient fully conscious during their physical disappearance.
  • The speaker lost their voice to the disease but regained the ability to speak using an AI-generated voice reconstructed from a 2019 recording before the condition affected his throat.

Technological Interventions and AI Applications

  • Voice Restoration: The speaker collaborated with the French research lab Q-TIE to build a real-time AI system that mimics his original timbre and intonation; the technology has been released as open-source software for global ALS patients.
  • Neuroscience Acceleration: AI is compressing research timelines that previously required generations into mere years by identifying patterns in massive datasets (brain scans, genetic sequences, patient records) previously too complex for human analysis.
  • Surgical Robotics: A new surgical technique involves implanting hair-fine threads into a living brain guided by a robot to ensure precision within a tenth of a second between heartbeats, overcoming human hand tremors caused by brain movement.
  • Regulatory Approval: In the previous spring, the American regulator granted "special status" to this robotic implant technology specifically to restore speech for ALS patients.

Global Research Initiatives and Strategic Collaborations

  • Paris Brain Institute: The institute is aggregating data from over 100,000 brains (scans, signals, records) under the "One Brain" initiative to allow AI to detect faint disease signals years before symptoms appear.
  • Mount Sinai Partnership: A formal research partnership has been signed between Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and the Paris Brain Institute to apply artificial intelligence to brain diseases.
  • Unified Front: The speaker identifies Alzheimer's, stroke, Parkinson's, depression, and ALS not as separate tragedies but as a single frontier accessible through AI-driven neuroscientific breakthroughs.

Funding Model and "The Wall" Project

  • Monumental Art Installation: A wall of thousands of portraits is being installed on the facade of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York; the faces are arranged to spell "invincible hope" from a distance.
  • Donor-to-Research Mechanism: Every portrait serves as a donation that directly funds the research partnership; donors become part of the "researcher" image, blurring the line between supporters and scientists.
  • Founding Capital: The speaker initiated the project with a personal founding gift of $600,000.
  • Call to Action: The speaker urges the audience to donate and place their face on the wall to convert financial contributions into research time for future patients.

Forward-Looking Statements and Closing Remarks

  • The speaker asserts that the same technology rescuing him from ALS will rescue others from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and stroke.
  • The speaker rejects counting remaining time, focusing instead on "time given back" through restored conversations and accelerated research.
  • Attendees are directed to an on-site photo studio by the "Cursor booth" to participate in the portrait project immediately.