WASHINGTON — Elon Musk said his Neuralink company has successfully implanted one of its chip implants into a human brain.
In a post on X on Monday, the billionaire said the patient is recovering well after the surgery on Sunday and the initial results show promising neuron spike detection.
Neuralink aims to connect human brains to computers and would help tackle neurological conditions and “unlock human potential tomorrow,” according to the company website.
The milestone initiates the company’s journey to commercial use.
The US’s medical regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the company’s first trial in May last year.
The procedure entails the insertion of 64 flexible threads onto a part of the brain that controls movement intention.
The threads are so fine that a robot has to implant them. The threads then allow the implant to record and transmit brain signals to an app, which then decodes how a person decides to move.
The implant is powered by a battery that can be charged wirelessly.
Musk added on X, the social media platform he owns which was previously called Twitter, that Neuralink’s first product would be called Telepathy.
He said Telepathy allows “control of your phone or computer and through them almost any device, just by thinking” and that “initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs”.
“Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal,” he added.
Neuralink is not the first company to implant brain chips. Another US tech company, Blackrock Neurotech started implanting brain-computer interfaces in 2004. — Euronews