The Pentagon is looking to build artificial intelligence into neural interfaces to let humans control machines with their thoughts.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently began recruiting teams to research how AI tools could augment and enhance “next-generation neurotechnology.” Through the program, officials ultimately aim to build AI into neural interfaces, a technology that lets people control, feel and interact with remote machines as though they were a part of their own body.

Impossible as they may sound, neural interfaces have already been used to allow people to control prosthetic limbs, translate thoughts into text, and telepathically fly drones. Through the Intelligent Neural Interfaces program, DARPA will explore how AI can make these systems more durable, efficient and effective.

One of the biggest issues researchers face when developing neural interfaces is keeping the tech homed in on the right part of the brain. Our brains are constantly gaining and losing neurons, so the machines often need to be recalibrated as neural connections change.

But through artificial intelligence, researchers could train the interface to automatically pick up on these changes and recalibrate itself accordingly, DARPA wrote in the solicitation. Under the program’s first track, teams would build algorithms that adjust the interface when neurons are lost or added, as well as if there’s any interference between the system and the brain.

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