Elon Musk gave news on X of the very first Neuralink patient who received a brain implant last January. Today he can use a computer mouse simply by thinking and move it on a screen at his own will.
• Read also: An Elon Musk start-up placed its first brain implant on a patient
A few weeks after the break of a first implant in the brain of a volunteer, Elon Musk gave his news during an intervention in a Space on X (formerly Twitter): “He is doing well. The patient appears to have made a full recovery, with no adverse effects that we are aware of. He is now able to control a computer mouse, moving it on a screen simply by thinking. We are now trying to get as many button presses as possible through thought. This is what we are currently working on. And then we would soon like to have more than just two buttons. We are trying to make progress on this point, but overall everything is going very well.
This implant, called Telepathy, should allow, in theory, to control one’s phone or computer, and through them almost any device, simply by thinking. Neuralink therefore wishes to benefit people who have lost the use of their limbs. The company can therefore, now, experiment with its medical trial protocol involving its fully implantable and wireless brain-computer interface. The implant must transmit brain signals to an application responsible for decoding them and transforming them into movement.
Neuralink is the first player to directly implant its chip in the brain and its first returns will be observed with great attention by the scientific world. In the longer term, this technology could also help treat Parkinson’s disease or epilepsy. As a reminder, Neuralink has previously tested its technology on animals.
