Elon Musk says Neuralink has implanted a human brain chip | louder.news

Elon Musk said the first human received a Neuralink brain implant, a potential milestone in the development of “brain-computer interface” technology that could one day help those suffering from debilitating conditions such as paralysis to interact with their environment

Musk tweeted late Monday that the patient had received the implant the previous day and was “recovering well,” suggesting the surgery was completed successfully and there were no serious technical issues. Musk did not disclose details about the patient. When Neuralink said last September it was recruiting a trial participant, it said it was looking for someone with quadriplegia.

Musk added that initial results show promising “neuron spike detection,” further suggesting that the Neuralink device is detecting signals from individual neurons within the brain, a potential breakthrough that could decode higher-quality brain signals. Musk did not say how many neurons the company's device is detecting. The researchers said the company did not provide detailed safety and efficacy data that would be needed to assess the implant's success.

The news of human implantation was heralded as a new frontier that can improve the lives of the severely disabled and paralyzed, and a development that will require close ethical and regulatory scrutiny. While memes exploded on social media after Musk's announcement, with some showing mock-ups of human-robot combinations from the sci-fi story, the main application of the technology is for people with movements and very restricted functions. Even for these people, it is expected to take years for the technology to develop and become available.