Musk says Neuralink has implanted its first brain chip in human
Surgery is not a surprise: US FDA had given company clearance in September to carry out first trial of its implant on humans
WASHINGTON: Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of the neurotechnology company Neuralink, has said the first human received an implant from the brain-chip startup and is recovering well.
The surgery is not a surprise: the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given the company clearance in September to carry out the first trial of its implant on humans.
“Initial results show promising neuron spike detection,” Musk said in a post on X on Tuesday, a day after the chip was implanted.
Spikes are activity by neurons, which the National Institute of Health describes as cells that use electrical and chemical signals to send information around the brain and to the body. Musk did not provide further details.
In follow-up tweets sent in between arguing about video games and bantering with far-right influencers, the businessman said the first Neuralink product was called Telepathy.
”It enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking,” he wrote. “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.”
Musk has a long history of bold promises but a spottier record of fulfilling them. In 2016, he wrongly predicted that within two years it would be possible for a Tesla to drive autonomously from New York to Los Angeles. That year he said his SpaceX rocket company would fly to Mars in 2018 – it still has not.
