Neuralink implanted a wireless brain chip in a human for the first time. Nine months after receiving permission from the US authorities, billionaire Elon Musk announced that his company has managed to implant a chip in a human brain. Last year, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Musk’s company to conduct its first trial to test its implant in humans. Today, “initial results show promising neuronal spike detection.” And, after 3 years when the company began its experiments in monkeys, now is the time to work with human neurons.
Neuralink in the Brain of a Human
The objective of this experiment, authorized last year by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is to allow people who suffer from tetraplegia or paralysis of all four limbs, to control devices solely with their thoughts.
For this study, a robot was used that surgically inserted 64 flexible threads, which are finer than a human hair and will be located in a part of the brain that controls the “movement intention”, which will be decoded by an application to precisely command the signal of how the person intends to move or what they want to do.
The company claims that these threads allow its experimental implant, powered by a battery that can be charged wirelessly, to record and transmit brain signals also wirelessly to an application that decodes how the person intends to move. Now after the first implant has been placed, Musk assures that “the initial results show promising detection of neuronal spikes.”
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
What Is the Neuralink Company Chip For?
If the experiment goes well, this first product from the Neuralink company will be called Telepathy and although “the first users will be people who have lost the functionality of their limbs,” said Elon Musk, it is also contemplated that it will be available to anyone. with the intention that humanity continues to take advantage of the advances of Artificial Intelligence.
This story was written in Spanish by Perla Vallejo in Ecoosfera.
