Brain chip activation The founder of Neuralink, Elon Musk, announced on social media on Sunday that the business had implanted a device in its first live human subject. Musk said on Monday that the patient "is getting better well" and that the device's preliminary outcomes had been encouraging.

According to Neuralink's website, the system is positioned within the region of the brain that coordinates movement and is made to examine someone's neural activity. This allows the user to operate external devices, like a computer or smartphone, with their thoughts. A recruitment booklet states that the device is presently undergoing clinical trials, which are open to some people with quadriplegia as a result of spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Musk announced on Monday that those who have lost the ability to use their limbs will be the initial users of Telepathy, the first Neuralink product. "Create a scenario where Stephen Hawking could converse more quickly than an auctioneer or speed typist," he wrote. "That is the objective."

Neuralink, which has encountered regulatory barriers due to protection concerns, has made fantastic progress with this implant, which puts it within the category of groups which have tested brain implants on humans, along with Synchron and Blackrock Neurotech. The social media platform X, which changed into formerly called Twitter, and Tesla are part of Elon Musk's commercial enterprise empire. Musk is also credited with reviving interest in the decades-old field of brain-computer interface and hyping it up by suggesting it could be used to improve human function more broadly.

Neuralink states on its website that it is working to develop technology that will “unlock human potential tomorrow and restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today.”

However, the business has encountered challenges that have made some doubtful of its objectives. Following veterinarian documents indicating studies in monkeys resulted in "debilitating health effects," four U.S. lawmakers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to look into whether Musk deceived investors about the safety of his brain implant in November.

Ryan Merkley, head of research advocacy at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, stated that if Musk "cared about the health of patients, he would invest in a noninvasive brain-computer interface" in May, following Neuralink's announcement that it had received approval for human trials.

The emergence of neurotechnologies, encompassing recreational and external gadgets like gaming headsets, poses pressing concerns regarding the regulation of brain data usage. According to McCay, the discussion of these topics "needs to become more prominent."

However, McCay also highlights a number of potentially advantageous uses for neurotechnology, including the treatment of locked-in syndrome, severe depression, and epilepsy.