Musk has described the initial results as ‘promising’.
Elon Musk has said his Neuralink company has successfully implanted a computer chip into someone’s brain for the first time.
The tech billionaire stated that the patient is recovering well and that initial results detected promising neuron spikes or nerve impulses.
Neuralink was formed in 2016 with the goal of connecting human brains to computers and helping tackle complex neurological conditions, the BBC reports.
Last year, the company was given permission to test its chip on humans.
Whilst recruiting the first human to undergo the procedure, Neuralink said it was looking for people who “have quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)”.
We’re excited to announce that recruitment is open for our first-in-human clinical trial!
If you have quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), you may qualify. Learn more about our trial by visiting our recent blog post.…
— Neuralink (@neuralink) September 19, 2023
Elon Musk says his company has implanted a wireless chip in someone’s brain
And yesterday evening (28 January) Musk announced that the “first human received an implant from Neuralink”.
Musk added: “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”
No information has been given about the person’s identity.
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
In a second post on X, formerly Twitter, Musk wrote that the chip would be called Telepathy. He said the product “enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.”
Musk added that Telepathy would first be used by “those who have lost the use of their limbs,” adding: “Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal.”
Enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 30, 2024
But this isn’t the first time a company has managed to implant a computer chip into a human brain.
Back in 2004, Utah-based Blackrock Neurotech implanted the first of many brain-computer interfaces, so Neuralink is playing catch-up with several more established companies.
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