Elon Musk’s ambitious Neuralink startup has been in stealth mode since its launch in 2017. The startup has now come out of stealth mode and shared how it’s going to connect the human brain with computers. During a presentation on Tuesday that was live-streamed on YouTube, the company said it was going to make inserting threads or wires into your brain as simple and painless as Lasik surgery.
Neuralink aims to figure out how brain interfaces could help patients with chronic medical conditions. Of course, connecting the human brain with computers will also help humanity keep up with the rapidly advancing Artificial Intelligence, and hopefully deal with the existential threat.
The startup uses a robot the size of a barbecue grill to insert ultrathin wires into your brain. Neuralink, which currently has about 90 employees, has raised $160 million in funding, including $100 million from Elon Musk. It has so far conducted at least 19 surgeries and successfully inserted the wires or threads about 87% of the time using robots.
It has been performing all its experiments on laboratory rats and monkeys. Elon Musk told media on Tuesday that a monkey had been able to control a computer with its brain. One of the experimental rats had a wire connected to a USB-C port on its head, which efficiently transmitted its thoughts to a computer. Elon Musk’s Neuralink startup claims its sensors are capable of collecting at least 10x more data than the most powerful sensors available today.
Neuralink president Max Hodak told media that the company was seeking USFDA approval to start clinical trials on human subjects as early as the second quarter of 2020. Hodak acknowledged that the company still had a “long way to go” before it could make its offerings commercially available to the masses. He assured that we will see “great things” in this field in the next decade.
The startup currently uses mechanical drills, which is unpleasant because it causes vibrations. In the future, it aims to use a laser drill to insert implants that transfer data from your brain to a computer. It is working with neurosurgeons at Stanford and other institutions on the project.
