Musk: "First-ever chip implanted in human brain... Patient is recovering well"

Neuralink, "Control Computers with Just Thoughts"
Musk, "Neuralink's First Product is Telepathy"

Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup owned by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has implanted a chip into a human brain for the first time in history. This comes eight months after receiving clinical approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May last year.

Elon Musk's Neuralink
[Image source=St Vincent Times]

On the 29th (local time), Musk posted on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), "Yesterday (the 28th), the first clinical subject received a chip implant from Neuralink," adding, "The patient is recovering well." He continued, "Neuralink's first product is 'telepathy' that can control almost any device, including mobile phones and computers, just by thinking," and added, "It will benefit people who cannot use their limbs."

He also emphasized, "People born congenitally blind who have never used their eyes will be able to gain vision."

Keep Ludwig, co-director of the Translational Neuroengineering Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, said, "Neuralink claimed to have achieved good results in detecting neuron spikes, which means the company is obtaining meaningful recordings from the patient's brain," and explained, "Now it is time for Neuralink to show that it can do more than other leading companies in this field, such as Blackrock Neurotech and Synchron."

According to a Bloomberg report on the 30th (local time), Neuralink conducted extensive experiments on animals prior to this clinical trial. In these experiments, monkeys succeeded in playing computer games using only their brains.

Bloomberg analyzed that Neuralink’s primate research contributed to raising awareness among some animal rights groups, such as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Neuralink’s chip aims to be implanted less than 2 mm deep into the brain, which is a deeper implantation range than systems currently being developed in precision neuroscience.

Jamie Henderson, a neurosurgery professor at Stanford University and an advisor to Neuralink, said, "I am excited about Neuralink’s technology, but the risks must never be overlooked," adding, "Approval for commercial use is premature."

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