Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of the neurotechnology company Neuralink, has stated that the first human to receive a brain-chip implant is recovering well.
Neurotechnology Company
The surgery is not surprising given that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the company in September to conduct the first human trial of its implant.
“Initial results show promising neuron spike detection,” Musk wrote in a post on X on Monday, one day after the chip was implanted.
The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well.
Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2024
Spikes are caused by neurons, which are defined by the National Institute of Health as cells that use electrical and chemical signals to transmit information throughout the brain and to the body. Musk did not go into further detail.
In follow-up tweets sent between arguing about video games and bantering with far-right influencers, the businessman revealed that the first Neuralink product was called Telepathy.
”It enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking,” he wrote.
“Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs. Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal.”
Musk with history of bold promises
Musk has a long history of bold promises, but a spotty track record of keeping them.
In 2016, he made an incorrect prediction that a Tesla could drive autonomously from New York to Los Angeles in two years. That year, he announced that his SpaceX rocket company would fly to Mars in 2018, but it has yet to do so.
Musk predicted that Neuralink’s first product would be available “in about four years” in 2017.
A significant milestone in human history
However, Anne Vanhoestenberghe, a professor of active implantable medical devices at King’s College London, described Tuesday’s announcement as a “significant milestone” towards that goal.
“For the brain-computer interface community, we must place this news in the context that while there are many companies working on exciting products, there are only a few other companies who have implanted their devices in humans, so Neuralink has joined a rather small group,” she added.
“I expect Neuralink will want to give the participant time to recover before they start training their system with the participant.
We know Elon Musk is very adept at generating publicity for his company, so we may expect announcements as soon as they begin testing, although true success in my mind should be evaluated in the long-term, by how stable the interface is over time, and how much it benefits the participant.”
Prime, the startup’s study, is a trial of its wireless brain-computer interface to assess the implant and surgical robot’s safety.
Researchers will evaluate the interface’s functionality, which allows people with quadriplegia to control devices with their thoughts, according to the company’s website.
Neuralink and Musk did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.
Musk responded to a crypto influencer on X who quoted him as saying the company would “help in the restoration of eyesight” by mentioning Blindsight, another product Neuralink was working on.
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