2024-02-28 10:50:15
« The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well. » Announced Elon Musk on his X account on Last January 29. “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection” he specified. Neuralink seems to have made a big leap in the progress of its research since Elon Musk was quick to publish it on his Twitter account.
But what are we talking about?
Owner of X since 2023, Elon Musk shares the progress of all his companies through this platform. This is how on Thursday May 26, 2023, he announced via the Twitter account of his company Neuralink that he had received authorization from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to test its connected chips on the first patients. In September 2023, following conclusive results on animals, the company Neuralink rushed to look for people with brain disabilities in order to carry out tests on humans. This call for volunteers has sparked much controversy since Neuralink is accused of having shown cruelty towards monkeys used as guinea pigs and also of having truncated the results of its research. However, the results seem conclusive, because the first chip was successfully implanted, indicating that “the first results show promising neuronal activity”.
Moreover, this Wednesday February 21, 2024, Elon Musk once again came to break this silence by indicating “that the patient can already move a mouse on the screen simply by thinking. » He specifies that researchers are now striving to offer different buttons that can be clicked by thought in order to multiply the possible interactions and to make the neural interface understand concepts such as “drag and drop”, “right click”, “left click » or even “scroll”. In other words, only the movement of the cursor is interpreted, which is very little and was already done without having to open the users’ skulls. But the research is still in its early stages. No further information has been communicated since. No doubt Mr. Musk will not be long in coming to us provide further details. The race for brain implants seems well underway for the latter.
What implant is this?
The implant that is mentioned is the size of a coin, it was placed in the brain of a macaque, allowing it to play the video game Pong without controller or keyboard. This chip is a brain-computer interface, composed thousands of electrodes fixed on a hundred “ultra-flexible” wires “. Once in place, it collects the patient’s brain movement data before sending it to the start-up’s computers. Thanks to the Neuralink application and an internet connection, users can control IOT directly by thought. These are objects connected to the internet such as IOS devices or even a keyboard.
Brain-computer interfaces therefore represent a revolutionary advance that can help people with disabilities communicate and overcome brain injuries. The start-up unveiled a first prototype in 2019, consisting of a small box attached behind the ear and connected to the brain. Since then, enormous progress has been made; the chip is now completely invisible. Currently measuring 23 millimeters long by 8 millimeters wide, it is the same thickness as the human skull, allowing it to fit directly in as a replacement for a similarly sized piece of bone. This implantation would leave only a tiny scar on the upper part of the skull. The device is also very autonomous, recharges by induction using headphones worn at night and then works throughout the day.
Elon Musk justifies his implant in the face of the dangers of using AI
For Elon Musk, the objective of Neuralink is to allow humans to continue to compete with machines and not to be intellectually distanced, he who has repeatedly warned of the dangers of AI. Although he is a direct investor d’OPEN AI, the latter wishes through this implant to improve the daily lives of patients suffering from illness but also to increase our brain capacities so as not to have to depend on technologies in the future. Thus, Elon Musk seems by this new step taken to be moving towards his dream of “augmented man”.
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