Elon Musk’s Neuralink analyzes more test subjects for its brain technology

San Francisco:

Elon Musk said Wednesday that his startup Neuralink is “moving on” to a second test patient as its technology for connecting brains and computers improves.

Musk and members of the Neuralink team answered questions during an update broadcast on X, formerly Twitter, discussing where the path lies toward making their brain implants common.

“We are just moving on to our second Neuralink patient,” Musk said. “But we expect to have, if things go well, high single-digit numbers this year.”

Musk’s neurotechnology company in January installed a brain implant in Noland Arbaugh, which the billionaire Tesla and X boss called a success.

Arbaugh was paralyzed from the shoulders down in a diving accident eight years ago.

Since the implant operation, he said he has played chess and the video game “Civilization”, as well as taking Japanese and French classes by controlling a cursor on the computer screen with his brain.

Musk and members of the Neuralink team detailed the fix for an issue that greatly reduced Arbaugh’s ability to move a computer cursor with his mind.

Neuralink’s technology works through a device the size of five stacked coins that is placed inside the human brain by a robotic surgeon.

The wires connecting the implant to Arbaugh’s brain had “retracted,” becoming less effective at picking up signals.

The wires will be implanted deeper into the brain and at varying depths, with greater precision to maximize effectiveness, according to the Neuralink team.

Musk promised that “it’s only going to get better from here.”

One of the goals is to increase the bandwidth of the link between the brain and the computer, allowing more data to move faster, according to Musk.

“Very important to the human-AI symbiosis is being able to communicate at a speed that AI can keep up with,” Musk said of brains connected to artificially intelligent computers.

Musk envisions that Neuralink implants will go beyond restoring vision to the blind, giving people infrared or ultraviolet vision or allowing them to share concepts with others telepathically.

“We want to give people superpowers,” Musk said. “Not only are we restoring your previous functionality, but you actually have much greater functionality than a normal human.”

Musk talked about developing an automated process in which Neuralink’s surgical robot could quickly install personalized implants in people seeking “upgrades.”

“It’s kind of like ‘Cyberpunk’ or ‘Deus Ex’ if you play those games,” Musk said of the idea.

“An interesting long-term possibility is also to take parts of the humanoid robot Optimus and combine it with a Neuralink – you could basically have cybernetic superpowers,” he said.

Musk co-founded Neuralink in 2016.

The ambition is to turbocharge human capabilities, treat neurological diseases like ALS or Parkinson’s, and perhaps one day achieve a symbiotic relationship between humans and AI.

Musk is not alone in trying to make advances in the field, which is officially known as brain-machine research or brain-computer interface.

(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)