Brain implant: what is known about Musk’s test – 01/30/2024 – Tech

Elon Musk’s company Neuralink has performed its first brain chip implant in a human being, taking a big step towards the billionaire’s goal of allowing people to control computers with their minds. And for the first time, Musk gave the implant device a name.

Here’s everything you need to know about Neuralink and the company’s first human trial:

What is Neuralink?

Neuralink is a startup founded by Elon Musk in 2017. It is trying to build a brain-computer interface that would help people with traumatic injuries use phones and computers with just their thoughts. To do this, the company is working on implanting electrodes in people’s brains.

It looks scary. Has this been done before?

Yes. Neuralink builds on decades of technology aimed at implanting electrodes in human brains to interpret signals and treat conditions such as paralysis, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. An early device is known as the Utah array, which was first demonstrated on a human in 2004. Many competitors have entered the field, including Synchron and Precision Neuroscience.

It’s cool?

The FDA (US health oversight agency) gave Neuralink approval for human clinical trials in May last year, following a series of implant tests on several animals. The company was heavily criticized for its experimentation on animals, especially primates, by groups such as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which stated that Neuralink failed in many of these surgeries.

What’s different about the Neuralink device?

The Neuralink device contains more than 1,000 electrodes, many more than other implants. It targets individual neurons, while many other devices in development target signals from groups of neurons. If it works, this should allow for a greater degree of accuracy.

How exactly does it work?

The implant places the chip and other electronic components inside the user’s skull, with wireless communications sending brain signal data to a Neuralink app, which decodes it into actions and intentions. Charging is also done wirelessly. Neuralink has developed a unique surgical robot to perform the implant procedure.

What do Musk and Neuralink hope to do with brain chips?

Neuralink says it wants to help paralyzed people, for starters. Eventually, Musk says his device could help people with hearing and vision loss. The billionaire says he hopes one day the implant could enable futuristic goals, like helping humans merge with artificial intelligence.

What is the device called?

In a post on his social network on Monday (29), Musk said the device would be called Telepathy.

What will happen during Neuralink’s first human brain test?

This test aims to help the company define the correct design for its device. Last year, Neuralink said it would perform 11 surgeries this year, although its predictions have been overly optimistic in the past.

How long will this study take?

Typically, this type of study involves enrolling 5 to 10 patients and lasts up to a year. The next step is a feasibility study and then a pivotal study, which is something similar to a Phase 3 study for a drug. If all goes well, it will likely be between five years and a decade before commercialization.