2024-08-07 03:58:39
Elon Musk says his startup Neuralink has successfully inserted the company’s brain implant into a human patient for the first time.
Musk announced the news on Twitter/X last week, saying the unnamed patient is “recovering well” after receiving the implant the day before.
“Initial results show promising neural spike detection,” he added in the tweet. Musk did not elaborate, but Neuralink has been designing the technology so that the implant can read the human user’s brain signals in the form of spikes of neural activity.
The goal is to then use those brain signals and translate them into remote commands for today’s consumer devices, such as moving a computer cursor. “It makes it possible to control your phone or computer, and through them, almost any device, just by thinking,” Musk added in a follow-up tweet.
In the same tweet thread, Musk revealed that Neuralink plans to call its first product “Telepathy.”
“The initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs,” he added. “Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a typist or an auctioneer. That’s the goal.”
In September, Neuralink began recruiting users, particularly quadriplegics, to enroll in the first human clinical trials involving the company’s brain implant. It appears the company has found at least one suitable candidate for its study called “PRIME.” But time will tell if the technology works without causing major health complications.
The implant, called the N1 chip, is about the size of a coin and is designed to read brain activity via 64 thin wires containing 1,024 electrodes. Although it is quite large, the chip is meant to be “cosmetically invisible” once surgically installed. The implant can then transmit signals, which can be decoded by Neuralink’s mobile app, allowing the user to control other electronic devices.
The company expects the PRIME study to take six years to complete for those who enroll.