By Corey Bennett
Exciting news hit the tech world as billionaire/entrepreneur Elon Musk revealed a major breakthrough, the Neuralink. Musk announced on X (formerly Twitter), that they had successfully implanted a brain-computer interface (BCI) into a human for the very first time. According to Musk, the person who received this is “recovering well,” and the results show a promising neuron spike detection. Meaning the chip is able to detect electrical activity in the brain.
Neuralink’s BCI is a wireless device that has a chip and electrode arrays with over 1,000 flexible conductors. The electrodes are surgically implanted into the recipient’s cerebral cortex, where they are able to register their thoughts. Musk believes that an app could translate their thoughts into actions, such as moving a cursor or producing text, just by thinking, almost like telepathy in movies. The chip is about the size of a coin, while the array of wires that are on it are roughly 20 times thinner than the human hair. The wires fanning out into the patient’s brain.
The robot will use a stiff needle to punch the flexible wires coming out of the Neuralink chip into a person’s brain, it will kind of work like a sewing machine. Musk claims that the machine could make the implants for the chip as easy as LASIK eye surgery. Though this is just a bold claim, neuroscientists have recently said that the machine had “very promising features.”
This Neuralink journey actually started in 2016 when Musk founded the company with massive goals, one of them being to merge a human brain with artificial intelligence. The recent builds have happened due to years of research and development, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowing for human trials to begin for Neuralink in 2023.
After the surgery the patient said that he was able to move a mouse around the screen just by thinking, now the company is trying to get the patient to perform as many mouse clicks as possible. The patient is a 29-year-old man who became a quadriplegic after he had a very serious diving accident roughly eight years ago. Saying that though it may not be perfect, it has changed his life for the better.
Many people believe that this is a massive milestone in technology and could lead to a brighter future. Neuroscientists like John Donoghue, from Brown University, note that the importance of detecting neuron spikes is a massive step toward controlling devices with the mind. Along with acknowledging the challenges of wireless communication and emphasizes a need for further research and experimentation.
Though despite this milestone, Musk’s massive goals, such as restoring eyesight and mobility to those who are disabled or merging the brain with AI still remain distant prospects. Achieving these goals would mean that he would have to overcome significant scientific and engineering challenges. But in the end the potential benefits could transform the world.
Musk’s Neuralink is still a significant step forward towards mind-controlled technology, with implications for healthcare, accessibility, and even human-AI collaboration. Even though many challenges still remain, the progress that is being made by Neuralink doesn’t even partially show the potential of BCIs to revolutionize how humans interact with technology and with each other. But as research continues and our technology advances, the possibilities for Neuralink’s impact are limitless.
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