Musk has described the initial results as ‘promising’
Elon Musk has said his Neuralink company has successfully implanted a computer chip into someone’s brain for the first time
The tech billionaire said that the patient is recovering well and that initial results detected promising neuron spikes or nerve impulses.
Neuralink was formed in 2016 with the goal of connecting human brains to computers and helping tackle complex neurological conditions, the BBC reports.
Last year, the company was given permission to test its chip on humans, having previously only tested the chip on animals.
Whilst recruiting the first human to undergo the procedure, Neuralink said it was looking for people who “have quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).”
And yesterday evening Musk announced that the “first human received an implant from Neuralink” on January 28.
Musk added: “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”
No information has been given about the person’s identity.
In a second post on X, formerly Twitter, Musk wrote that the chip would be called Telepathy. He said the product “enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.”
Musk added that Telepathy would first be used by “those who have lost the use of their limbs,” adding: “Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal.”
But this isn’t the first time a company has managed to implant a computer chip into a human brain.
Back in 2004, Utah-based Blackrock Neurotech implanted the first of many brain-computer interfaces, so Neuralink is playing catch-up with several more established companies.
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