Neuralink, a company spearheaded by Elon Musk, achieved a significant milestone by implanting its first brain-computer interface device in a patient on Sunday. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, announced the development, revealing that the inaugural product is named “Telepathy” which allows people to control a phone or computer just by thinking. The company is working on a brain implant designed to help people with severe paralysis in controlling external technologies solely through neural signals. The primary beneficiaries of this technology will be people who have lost the use of their limbs.
To provide context to its usability, Musk cited the example of theoretical physicist-cosmologist Stephen Hawking, who battled amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS for over 55 years till his death in 2018. The debilitating neurodegenerative disease condition confined the science great to a wheelchair for over five decades and enabled him to communicate only using a computer tablet attached to his wheelchair.
Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that Telepathy “enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.” He said, “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 and Neuralink have not shared more information about who got the brain implant or whether it is working.
Elon Musk said back in November 2022 that Neuralink would start testing on people in six months. They previously showed a video with monkeys controlling computer cursors with their brains. A
Although Musk is often optimistic about his company timelines, Neuralink got approval from the FDA for human trials in May. Currently, the company is recruiting for its first clinical trial, looking for people with limited hand use due to spinal cord injuries or ALS.
Neuralink's primary technology involves an implant known as the "Link," a device approximately the size of five stacked coins that is surgically placed inside the human brain through invasive procedures.
Nerualink's website says, “This study involves placing a small, cosmetically invisible implant in a part of the brain that plans movements. The device is designed to interpret a person's neural activity, so they can operate a computer or smartphone by simply intending to move — no wires or physical movement are required.”
Neuralink had over 400 employees last year and successfully secured a minimum of $363 million in funding.
