Neuralink: Did Elon Musk make a breakthrough in brain implant technology?

Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company founded by Elon Musk, has revealed the identity of its first patient who says its implant “changed his life.” But experts say it's not yet clear whether Nueralink has done more than replicate existing research efforts.

Who was Neuralink's first patient?

Musk announced in January that the first human patient had received a Neuralink implant, but few details were released at the time. We now know from something. Live stream video by company – Who is the patient and how is the test being performed?

Noland Arbaugh explains in the video that an accident eight years ago dislocated his fourth and fifth vertebrae, leaving him a quadriplegic. He previously controlled the computer with a mouth interface, and is shown moving the cursor with just his thoughts, apparently using a Neuralink implant.

“Once I started imagining the cursor moving, it became intuitive,” Arbaugh says in the video. “Basically, it was like using 'force' on the cursor, and I was able to move the cursor anywhere I wanted. I could just look anywhere on the screen and the cursor would move where I wanted it. It was a very wild experience.”

He uses the device for reading, language learning, and computer games such as chess, and claims he uses it for up to eight hours at a time, at which point he needs to charge the device. “It's not perfect, I've run into some problems. But it's already changed my life,” he says.

What does the implant contain?

Neuralink did not respond to requests for an interview, but its website says the current generation, coin-sized implant, called N1, generates neural activity through 1,024 electrodes distributed across 64 threads that extend into the user's brain. It is said that it records. These are so fine that they must be placed by a surgical robot.

In a livestream video, Arbaugh said he was discharged from the hospital the day after the implant and that the surgery was a relatively simple process from his perspective.

The implant contains a small battery that is charged through the skin by an inductance charger and communicates wirelessly with an app on your smartphone.

Does this mean the first human trials were successful?

Reinhold Scheller of the University of Essex in the UK has questioned whether Neuralink's first human trial was a success because Neuralink “has not released enough information to form an informed opinion”. He said it was too early to judge.

“While the video is impressive and there is no doubt that it took a lot of research and development work to get to this stage, it is unclear whether what is being shown is new or groundbreaking,” he said. Masu. “Although control appears to be stable, most of the studies and experiments presented so far are primarily replications of past studies. Replication is good, but major challenges still remain. ”

Who else is working on brain implants?

Neuralink isn't the only group working on this idea. A number of academic organizations and commercial startups have already conducted human experiments that have successfully interpreted brain signals and produced some kind of output.

A team at Stanford University in California placed two small sensors just below the surface of the brain of a man who was paralyzed from the neck down. Researchers were able to interpret the brain signals when a man intended to put pen to paper and convert them into text that can be read on a computer.

When will Neuralink be available and how much will it cost?

It's too early to tell, as this has a long way to go before it becomes a commercial product, with much testing and certification to come. But Musk has made it clear that he intends to commercialize the technology.of The first project product name is “Telepathy” Allows users to control their phones and computers.