by Lena Turcios
AI has recently been a hot topic as new technologies are on the rise. According to Nature news, Elon Musk has created a new implant that is said to decode and record brain activity. Neuralink is Musk’s company that he hopes will revolutionize brain-computer interfaces (BCIs.) The goal is to allow a person suffering severe paralysis to control a computer, robotic arm, wheelchair or other device through solely thought. Mariska Vansteensel is a neuroscientist at University Medical Centre Utrecht in the Netherlands and president of the international BCI Society. She expressed her cautious excitement on this new technology and said, “What I hope to see is that they can demonstrate that it is safe. And that it is effective at measuring brain signals- short term, but most importantly, long term.
There has been a lack of detailed information about the current plans of Musk’s company besides a posted tweet. The tweet reads, “The first human received an implant from Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well. Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.” If these developments come to be successful they could help many disabled people communicate effectively. According to Rolling Stone, during September of last year Neuralink said it was recruiting patients with quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for the trial.
Musk has invested $100 million of his own money into the venture and has made very large claims about his new developments. Such as declaring it will, “enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using their thumbs.” and “paraplegics to walk again.” He’s also speculated that it could treat blindness, schizophrenia, depression, autism, obesity, and insomnia. He claims that his development can also one day combine human consciousness with AI. A report from Reuters emerged in 2022 claiming that there was animal abuse involved during the development of the human implants. According to Musk’s Neuralink staff there were 1,500 needless animal deaths since the start up in 2018.
According to Reuters, Neuralink is valued at $5,000,000. In November, four lawmakers asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Musk had committed securities fraud. He allegedly misled investors about the company’s technology safety after veterinary records indicated that monkeys used in the experiments suffered from health issues with the implants including paralysis, seizures, and brain swelling. Since Neuralink is wireless and has to be connected to a computer through a port in the skull, this opens up the risks for infection greatly and limits real-world usage.
Overall, these new technologies have hope for future use as well as inevitable negative aspects.
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