Over the weekend, Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company founded by Elon Musk, implanted its first human with the computer-brain interface. Elon Musk announced the milestone on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating that the patient was “recovering well,” and initial results showed promising neuron spike detection. While Musk did not provide details about the patient, Neuralink had previously announced its search for individuals with quadriplegia or ALS for the clinical trials.
Neuralink’s device, about the size of a large coin, is designed to be implanted in the skull with ultra-thin wires going directly into the brain. The US Food and Drug Administration had approved Neuralink’s “investigational device exemption” for clinical studies, allowing the company to move forward with its human trials. The goal of the brain-computer interface is to enable individuals to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone.
In a separate post on X, Musk revealed that the first Neuralink product is named “Telepathy,” aiming to allow users to control phones or computers simply by thinking. The initial users for this product are expected to be those who have lost the use of their limbs. While this marks a significant step forward for Neuralink, experts caution that success and safety will require long-term evaluation, emphasizing the need for disclosure of more information about the procedure. The announcement places Neuralink among a “rather small group” of companies that have implanted their devices in humans, but the true measure of success will depend on the stability and benefits observed over time.
