Elon Musk said Wednesday that his startup Neuralink is “moving on” to a second human subject as technology for linking the brain and computers improves.
Musk and members of the Neuralink team answered questions in an update posted on X (formerly Twitter) and discussed how far the company's brain implants are on the road to widespread adoption.
“We've just moved on to our second patient for Neuralink,” Musk said, “but if things go well, we expect to achieve high single-digit patient numbers this year.”
Musk's neurotechnology company implanted a brain implant in Noland Arbaugh in January, a move the Tesla and X billionaire hailed as a success.
Arbaugh was left paralyzed from the shoulders down in a diving accident eight years ago.
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Since getting the implant, he said he has played chess, the video game Civilization and taken Japanese and French language lessons by controlling a cursor on a computer screen with his mind.
Musk and members of the Neuralink team detailed how they fixed the issue that had significantly reduced Arbo's ability to consciously move his computer's cursor.
Neuralink's technology works through a device about the size of five coins stacked together that a robotic surgeon places inside the human brain.
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The threads connecting the implant to Arbaugh's brain “retracted,” making it less effective at picking up signals.
The Neuralink team says the threads can be implanted deeper into the brain at various depths and with increasing precision to maximize their effectiveness.
“It's only going to get better from here,” Musk promised.
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One goal, Musk said, is to increase the bandwidth of the link between the brain and computer, allowing more data to move faster.
Regarding the brain being connected to a computer with artificial intelligence, Musk said, “What's really important for human-AI symbiosis is to be able to communicate at a speed that the AI can keep up with.”
Musk envisions Neuralink implants not only restoring sight to the blind, but also granting infrared and ultraviolet vision, as well as the ability to share concepts with others telepathically.
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“We want to give people superpowers,” Musk said, “not just restore some previous function, but actually function much better than the average human.”
Musk spoke about developing an automated process that would allow Neuralink's surgical robots to quickly install custom implants for people who want an “upgrade.”
“When you play the game, it's very much like Cyberpunk or Deus Ex,” Musk said of the idea.
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“In the longer term, there's also the exciting possibility of combining parts of the Optimus humanoid robot with Neuralink, essentially giving you cybernetic superpowers,” he said.
Musk co-founded Neuralink in 2016.
Its ambitions are to surpass human capabilities, treat neurological diseases such as ALS and Parkinson's, and eventually realize a symbiotic relationship between humans and AI.
Musk is not the only one trying to bring about advancements in this field, formally known as brain-machine, or brain-computer interface, research.
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