Elon Musk’s Neuralink startup has achieved a major breakthrough by implanting a chip in a human brain for the first time. The operation was performed on Sunday and the patient is said to be recovering well. Musk’s announcement indicates a significant milestone in the startup’s efforts to bring life-changing technology out of the lab and into the real world.
The initial results of the operation show promising neural spike detection, according to Musk’s posts on the X platform, a social media platform he owns. He also revealed that the first product to be launched by Neuralink will be called Telepathy, with the initial users being people who have lost the use of their limbs. The goal, Musk wrote, is to enable individuals like Stephen Hawking to communicate faster than a typist or an auctioneer.
Neuralink has been working on using implants to connect the human brain to a computer for five years. However, the startup faced public scrutiny after a monkey died in 2022 during an attempt to get the animal to play Pong, one of the first video games.
Previous concerns aside, Neuralink received FDA clearance to conduct clinical trials in humans last year and began recruiting patients with quadriplegia caused by cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The patients in the trial will have a chip surgically placed in the part of the brain that controls the intention to move, allowing them to control a computer’s cursor or keyboard using only their thoughts.
Despite Musk’s announcement, Neuralink has yet to respond to CNN’s request for further details.