Tech billionaire Elon Musk has claimed his Neuralink company has successfully implanted one of its wireless brain chips in a human. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he said “promising” brain activity had been detected after the procedure and the patient was “recovering well”. The company’s goal is to connect human brains to computers to help tackle complex neurological conditions.
Professor Anne Vanhoestenberghe of King’s College London stated, “For any company producing medical devices, the first test in humans is a significant milestone.” She added, “Neuralink has joined a rather small group” of companies that have implanted similar devices in humans. However, she emphasized the need for caution, noting that “true success” could only be evaluated in the long term.
The École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland is among the companies that have made similar advances in the field, enabling a paralyzed man to walk by using electronic implants on his brain and spine. There has been no independent verification of Musk’s claims, and Neuralink has not provided details about the procedure.
Neuralink has faced criticism in the past for testing that reportedly resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,500 animals. The head of the US Department of Agriculture said in July 2023 that no violations of animal research rules were found, but a separate investigation is ongoing. The FDA granted Neuralink permission to test the brain chip on humans in May 2023.
The six-year study involves surgically placing 64 flexible threads, thinner than a human hair, onto a part of the brain that controls “movement intention.” Neuralink claims these threads allow the experimental implant to record and transmit brain signals wirelessly.
Musk revealed in a post that Neuralink’s first product, called Telepathy, would enable “control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.” He suggested that initial users would be those who have lost the use of their limbs, envisioning a scenario where individuals with conditions like Stephen Hawking’s motor neurone disease could communicate faster.
While Musk’s involvement raises the profile of Neuralink, other companies with decades-long track records, such as Blackrock Neurotech and Precision Neuroscience, are also working on brain-computer interfaces. Existing devices have shown promising results in monitoring brain activity and decoding it to help individuals communicate.
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Contributing Editor
AMA ACLC San Pablo
