Article information
- Author, Patrick Jackson
- Role, Da BBC News
January 30, 2024
Billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday (29/1) that his company Neuralink has successfully implanted a wireless brain chip in a human for the first time.
In a post on the social network X, Musk said that “promising” brain activity was detected after the procedure and that the patient is “recovering well.”
BBC News has contacted Neuralink and the US medical regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for more information.
Musk’s company received permission from the FDA to test the chip on humans in May, after several previous attempts to gain approval.
This paved the way for the start of the six-year study to develop the new device, which is called Telepathy, according to Musk.
How Telepathy works
The Telepathy chip is connected to 1,024 tiny electrodes via flexible wires thinner than a strand of hair.
A robot is used to place these wires and electrodes in a part of the brain that controls “intention to move,” according to Neuralink.
The company says these wires allow its experimental implant, powered by a battery that can be charged wirelessly, to record and transmit brain signals wirelessly to an app that decodes how the person intends to move.
Telepathy, according to Musk, would allow “control of your phone or computer and, through them, almost any device, just with thought.”
“The first users will be those who have lost use of their limbs,” he continued.
“Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a typist. That’s the goal,” Musk said, referring to the late British scientist who suffered from a neurological disease.
Professor Tara Spires-Jones, president of the British Neuroscience Association, says the implant announced by Musk “has great potential to help people with neurological disorders in the future.”
“It’s an excellent example of how fundamental research in neuroscience is being leveraged for medical advances,” she said.
“However, most of these interfaces require invasive neurosurgery and are still in the experimental phase, so it will likely be many years before they are available.”
What Musk’s announcement means
Neuralink has been criticized in the past for carrying out tests that resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,500 animals, including sheep, monkeys and pigs.
However, the US Department of Agriculture said in July last year that it had not found any animal welfare violations by the company to date.
However, the investigation is still ongoing.
Musk’s company received permission from the FDA to test the chip on humans in May 2023.
Professor Anne Vanhoestenberghe, from King’s College London, assesses that, “for any company producing medical devices, the first human trial is a significant milestone.”
“While there are many companies working on interesting products, there are only a few other companies that have implanted their devices in humans, so Neuralink has joined a very small group.”
However, she also suggested caution regarding the announcement, as the success of the initiative can only be assessed in the long term.
“We know that Elon Musk is very skilled at generating publicity for his company,” Vanhoestenberghe added.
Other devices
Other rival companies have already implemented devices similar to Neuralink’s, some of which have a two-decade history of activity in this field.
Utah-based Blackrock Neurotech deployed its first of many brain-computer interfaces in 2004.
Precision Neuroscience, formed by a Neuralink co-founder, also aims to help people with paralysis.
Its implant resembles a very thin piece of tape that sits on the surface of the brain and can be implanted through a “cranial microslit.”
The company claims that this is a much simpler procedure. Existing devices have also produced results.
In two recent scientific studies in the United States, implants were used to monitor brain activity when a person tried to speak, which could then be decoded to help them communicate.
Another advance was obtained by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland, which made it possible for a paralyzed person to walk with just the power of thought.
This was achieved by placing electronic implants in his brain and spine that communicate thoughts to his legs and feet.
The discovery was detailed in a study published in the scientific journal Nature in May 2023.