Musk offers 22,000 brain chips
Thousands of volunteers are already queuing up at Neuralink
November 9, 2023, 4:20 p.m
Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink wants to connect the human brain directly to computers using a chip. So far, the startup has only conducted research on animals. But that should change soon. Apparently there are enough volunteers.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk dreams of paralyzed people being able to control their wheelchairs with their thoughts or blind people being able to see again. This vision is intended to be made possible by a brain implant developed by the neurotechnology company Neuralink. The startup, founded in 2016, has not yet implanted any chips into human brains.
According to a Bloomberg report, over the next eleven years, Neuralink wants to open the skulls of more than 22,000 people and connect them to a computer. Apparently thousands of people have already expressed their interest. Anyone interested has been able to apply online directly on the company website since September.The cost of each implant operation is said to be around $10,500 – including examination, supplies and labor. The company expects annual sales of up to $100 million within five years.
Neuralink received approval for testing from the US authorities in May of this year. “We are pleased to announce that we have received FDA approval to begin our first human clinical trial,” Neuralink said on Twitter at the time. The approval of the FDA is an important first step.
“The long-term goal is to make a common brain interface available to billions of people and to unlock human potential and go beyond our biological capabilities,” the business portal quotes DJ Seo, co-founder of Neuralink and vice president of engineering.
The implant will initially be tested in patients with paralysis due to spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. According to Neuralink, patients should have an implant inserted into the region of the brain that controls the will to move. The initial goal is to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using just their thoughts.
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To do this, a hole the size of a coin is drilled into the skull. The so-called link is connected directly to the human tissue in the head using fine cables. External devices should then be able to be controlled wirelessly. According to Musk, the brain implants could also function “like a fitness tracker in the head,” as the different sensors can monitor the health of the user and warn in good time in the event of irregularities.
Neuralink’s dozen or so robots performed 155 of these surgeries on sheep, pigs and monkeys in 2021 and 294 last year, according to the report. In human subjects, the surgical preparations and the so-called craniectomy are expected to take a few hours, followed by about 25 minutes for the actual implantation.
Several institutions and companies have been researching brain-computer interfaces (BCI) for years. In July, competitor Synchron announced that it was the first company to have implanted a corresponding chip in the brain of a US patient. According to the manufacturer, the computer-brain interface called Stentrode can receive and send neural signals. With the implant, patients could have sent messages and shop online. Musk is said to have already inquired about a possible investment at Synchron.