Elon Musk’s Neuralink implants a brain chip in humans for the first time – now there are the first results: the patient can control a computer mouse

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According to founder Elon Musk, the patient who recently received a chip from the American start-up Neuralink in his brain can control a computer mouse via his brain. “Progress is good, the patient seems to have fully recovered, without any known side effects,” Musk said in a live audio conversation on his online service Brain.

The patient could even “control the mouse and move it around the screen using only his thoughts,” Musk assured. Currently, we work with the patient to specifically move the cursor left and right, up and down, using the power of his thoughts. Ultimately, this is necessary “if you want to click on something and move it to another location”.

Macaque was playing a video game

The Neuralink implants are about the size of five coins stacked on top of each other. In the future, they will help people with neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but they will also fundamentally enable a direct connection between the brain, computers and artificial intelligence, increasing human capabilities.

For testing purposes, the implant had already been placed in a macaque, which could play the video game “Pong” without a joystick, mouse or keyboard.

Neuralink, based in Fremont, California, was founded in 2016. According to data services provider Pitchbook, it had more than 400 employees in 2023. In August and November last year, the company raised investments totaling 323 million dollars (298 million euros) in two tranches. Neuralink points to a wide range of possible applications: In the future, it wants to use its implants to restore mobility to paralyzed people, restore sight to blind people and cure mental illnesses such as depression.

Other companies are also working on brain-computer interfaces

However, Musk’s startup isn’t the only company working on brain-computer interfaces. In 2019, the Clinatec research institute in Grenoble, France, presented an implant intended to be implanted in people with spinal cord injuries so that they can control an exoskeleton, regain movement of their arms or move around.

In July 2022, the Australian company Synchron announced that it had implanted a chip in a patient’s brain for the first time. Unlike Neuralink, the synchronous implant is connected to the brain from the outside, so the patient’s skull does not have to be opened.

In September, the Dutch company Onward announced that it would test the connection of a brain implant with an implant that stimulates the spinal cord. In this way, people with paralyzed arms and legs can become mobile again. (AFP)

Source: Blick