Elon Musk has announced that Neuralink, his neurotechnology company, has implanted a chip in a human subject’s brain for the first time. The billionaire said that the person had the chip surgically implanted in their brain on Sunday and “is recovering well”. “Initial results show promising detection of neural spikes,” Musk communicated on Twitter.
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States authorized human trials of Neuralink’s brain chips after the company conducted hundreds of tests on monkeys, sheep, and pigs.
“For the past two years, we have focused on creating a product ready for the human being,” declared DJ Seo, co-founder of Neuralink, to Bloomberg News in November. “The time has come to help a real human being.”
The brain chip, with 1,000 electrodes, is designed for people to perform computer functions wirelessly by simply thinking about what they would like to do through a “think and click” mechanism.
Last month, Neuralink said it was looking for quadriplegics under 40 years old to participate in human trials. The company also said that a surgeon would remove part of the test patient’s skull before a 2-meter-tall robot called R1 took over to implant 64 electrode-coated threads into their brain.
The electrodes are programmed to collect data about the brain, including neuronal activity associated with the intention of movement. These neuronal signals recorded by the electrodes would then be sent to Neuralink computers for decoding.
“The short-term goal of the company is to build a generalized brain interface and restore autonomy to people with debilitating neurological conditions and unmet medical needs,” said Seo, who also holds the title of Vice President of Engineering at Neuralink. “Then, really, the long-term goal is for this to be available to billions of people and unlock human potential and go beyond our biological capabilities.”
