About Elon Musk’s Neuralink and its first human brain implant

Neuralink is a startup founded by Elon Musk in 2017.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink company has produced the first brain implant in a human, a major step toward the billionaire’s goal of one day enabling people to control computers with their thoughts. Musk names implanted device for first time.

Here’s everything you need to know about Neuralink and the company’s first-in-human trial:

What are neural links?

Neuralink is a startup founded by Elon Musk in 2017. The company is trying to build a brain-computer interface to help people who have suffered trauma operate their phones and computers using just their thoughts. To do this, it is working on implanting electrodes into people’s brains.

It sounds terrible. Have you done this before?

Yes. Neuralink builds on decades of technology and aims to implant electrodes into the human brain to interpret signals and treat conditions such as paralysis, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. An early device, called the Utah Array, was first demonstrated in humans in 2004. Many competitors have entered the field, including Synchron and Precision Neuroscience.

Is it legal?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Neuralink for human clinical trials last May after a series of implant trials in various animals. The company has been heavily criticized for its surgeries on animals, particularly primates, from groups such as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which said many of Neuralink’s surgeries were botched.

How are Neuralink devices different?

The Neuralink device contains more than 1,000 electrodes, far more than other implants. It targets individual neurons, while many other devices under development target signals from groups of neurons. If effective, this should allow for greater accuracy.

How exactly does it work?

The implant places chips and other electronics inside the user’s skull, wirelessly communicating brain signal data to the Neuralink app, which decodes them into actions and intentions. Charging is also done wirelessly. Neuralink developed a custom surgical robot to perform implant surgeries.

What do Musk and Neuralink hope to do with brain chips?

First, Neuralink wants to help people who are paralyzed. Ultimately, Musk says his device could help people with hearing and vision loss. The billionaire said he hopes such implants will one day enable future goals such as helping humans merge with artificial intelligence.

What is this device called?

On Monday, Musk posted on his social network that the device will be called Telepathy.

What will happen during Neuralink’s first human brain trial?

The trial is intended to help the company determine the correct design of its equipment. Last year, Neuralink said it would perform 11 surgeries this year, although its past forecasts were too optimistic.

How long will this study take?

Typically, such studies enroll 5-10 patients and last up to a year. The next step is a feasibility study and then a pivotal study, roughly similar to a Phase III study of a drug. If all goes well, commercialization could take five to 10 years.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)