Computer Chip Implanted in Brain... Monkey Playing Games with Just Thoughts

A monkey is holding a joystick and learning to play a video game.
[Photo by YouTube video capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Elon Musk, who founded the neurotechnology startup Neuralink, has released an experimental video featuring a monkey implanted with a computer chip in its brain, foreign media reported on the 9th (local time). The video posted by Elon Musk on Twitter shows the monkey playing a simple video game using only its thoughts, without any game control tools like a joystick.

Neuralink is developing brain-implant chips that allow humans to operate various electronic devices using only their thoughts, and recently conducted initial experiments on a 9-year-old monkey named Phaser.

Neuralink trained the monkey to play a video game called "Pong," where it controls a paddle to catch a moving ball. The monkey learned the game by receiving a banana smoothie through a straw whenever it caught the ball on the screen using a joystick.

While the monkey played the game, the implanted computer chip in its brain processed various information transmitted from the brain's neurons to link brain activity with hand movements. Neural signals generated during the game were digitized through the computer chip connected to 2,000 tiny wires.

Based on this, Neuralink built a system that allows the paddle on the video screen to move solely through neural signals generated in the brain, even when the monkey does not move the joystick.

Musk reiterated his intention to develop a chip to be implanted in the human brain based on this experiment. He said, "Neuralink's first product will enable people with physical paralysis to use smartphones faster than those using their thumbs," adding, "The next product will help paraplegics walk again."

Neuralink also stated through the monkey experiment video, "Our goal is to enable people with physical paralysis to use computers or phones using only brain activity."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.