Musk’s Brain-Machine Company Neuralink Completes First Human Brain Chip Transplant
Foreign media reported that Musk’s brain-computer interface company “Neuralink” has recently completed the first human brain implant chip surgery.
Musk confirmed the report in a post on social media X, saying that Neuralink had implanted a brain chip in its first human patient, who is recovering well from the surgery, and that preliminary results show promising results for neuronal spike detection.
The media reported that Neuralink had designed a chip about the size of a coin to read signals from the brain and a surgical robot to implant the chip on the surface of the cerebral cortex. The fully automated robot opens the scalp, removes a portion of the skull, implants the chip, and sews up the incision, while automatically avoiding blood vessels. Once the chip is inserted into the brain, thin electrodes can penetrate directly into brain cells to monitor neuronal signals, which can then be transmitted wirelessly via Bluetooth to a cell phone or computer device.
Neuralink has previously implanted prototype chips into the skulls of monkeys and demonstrated several monkeys “playing” basic video games or moving a cursor on a screen through the chip. Before that, the chip was also implanted in a pig’s brain, successfully predicting the movements of various joints when a piglet walks.
Musk said Neuralink hopes to restore the ability of people who have lost their eyesight or mobility by implanting chips in the human brain, starting with those who have little or no control over their muscles, and “we also believe that we can give people with spinal cord injuries a chance to regain full-body function. Musk expects the chips to help treat obesity, autism, depression, and schizophrenia, as well as assist with Web browsing and even upload memories and telepathy.
