What they are building
Tokyo AI company led by Ryota Kanai. Its researchers work on a non-invasive interface that decodes the words a person intends from scalp EEG. Kanai also manages a project in Japan's Moonshot programme that develops non-invasive and implanted interfaces.
- Interface category
- Electroencephalography
- Signal
- Summed field potentials, blurred and attenuated by skull and scalp
- Invasiveness
- Non-invasive
- Recording / stimulation
- Recording
- Main use cases
- Communicate
Where they are clinically
Preclinical
Bench, animal or cadaver work. No human participants.
Research with volunteers. There is no product and the registry lists no study under its name.
Access today
Preclinical
Not yet tested in people.
- Shown in people
- A preprint from its researchers: one healthy man read aloud for 175 hours over 48 days, and his words were identified from scalp EEG with 48% top-one accuracy in an open vocabulary. Not peer reviewed, and not in a patient.
- Still an aim
- An interface for people who cannot speak, inside a national programme whose first milestone is 2030.
- What stands in the way
- Signal: scalp EEG carries far less than an implant, and a result from speaking volunteers may not transfer to people who cannot speak.
On record here: 0 peer-reviewed papers
This technology remains experimental and is not an established treatment. Access is limited to registered clinical studies.
Why this company matters
Araya's bet is on data: that scalp EEG, which carries far less than an implant, yields more when a model is trained on a very long recording from one person. Its chief executive also manages a national Moonshot project on non-invasive and implanted interfaces, with a first milestone in 2030. The work so far is a preprint, on a volunteer who can speak. Whether it holds for someone who cannot speak, and outside a laboratory, has not been shown.
Key milestones
Competitive context
Sources
- 01
Araya Inc., company information (opens in a new tab)
Company reportedArayaChecked against source 6 Oct 2026
The company's own page, in Japanese: established December 2013, Tokyo, chief executive Ryota Kanai.
- 02
Independent reportingJapan Science and Technology AgencyChecked against source 6 Oct 2026
The funder's page. It names Ryota Kanai as project manager, describes non-contact, scalp-EEG and near-dura interfaces, and gives 2050 as the target year with a milestone in 2030. It lists his affiliation as ATR.
- 03
PreprintarXiv10 Jul 2024Checked against source 6 Oct 2026
Not peer reviewed. Authors are all at Araya Inc., Tokyo. One healthy man reading aloud; 175 hours over 48 days; 48% top-one and 76% top-ten accuracy in an open vocabulary.