Neuralink, a company founded in 2016 by Elon Musk and a group of engineers, is developing a brain chip interface that can be implanted inside the skull. Neuralink’s N1 chip’s most recent iteration is designed to be inserted into the spine and brain, hopes to assist the Blind to see and the Paralyzed Walk. The company claims that this interface would eventually allow disabled individuals to move and communicate again and will also help to recover vision.
Neuralink helped form intending to directly connect our brains to computers, demonstrating how far it has come from its monkey “MindPong” moment in 2021. The latest iteration of the company’s implantable brain chip may let the blind “see” or restore movement to individuals with spinal cord injuries, Musk, and a few researchers said in a thorough update.
One of Musk’s five businesses is developing a method to implant thousands of electrodes onto the surface of people’s brains that are thousands of times thinner than human hair. Each electrode consists of a tiny wire that is attached to a quarter-sized chip package that is battery-powered and wirelessly recharged and inserted into the space where a circle of the skull originally stood. The N1 chip uses wireless technology to connect to the outside world.
Although Musk’s ultimate goal of using Neuralink to socialize with superintelligent AIs is still a ways off, the technology is still far from its first medical applications.
But the business said at a “show and tell” event that lasted more than two hours that it is making substantial progress, including applying with the Food and Drug Administration to initiate human trials that it intends to start within six months.
According to Dan Adams, a researcher at Neuralink who is working on the project to repackage camera data into a brain-compatible format and send it straight to the visual cortex, “Our goal will be to turn the lights on for someone who has spent decades living in the dark.”
Musk has some credibility when it comes to cutting-edge technology. His reusable rocket firm SpaceX and electric vehicle startup Tesla are fundamentally altering the automotive industry and space access, respectively.
However, the turbulence that followed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter has hurt his reputation as a cyber genius. Additionally, Musk’s Boring Company, which uses tunnels to reimagine motor transportation, hasn’t yet delivered on its claims.
It doesn’t appear that Neuralink is any simpler than social networking. There are a lot of technological, legal, and ethical problems involved in connecting computer hardware to our wetware. It’s one thing to help the blind see, but those of us who already spend too much time on our phones would not benefit from a digital feed directly into our brains.
Neuralink technology to aid quadriplegics in walking
Neuralink previously demonstrated how its electrodes can monitor brain activity. Neuralink computers developed their ability to decipher motor control signals by studying the brain activity of a monkey named Pager while it played the vintage video game, Pong. Later, the game might be controlled only by the monkey’s brain signals.
Sake the monkey utilized its intellect to follow instructions and type on a virtual keyboard at Neuralink’s “show and tell” event, which was held to attract new talent.Monkeys are persuaded to sit beneath a charger incorporated in a branch directly above their heads in exchange for a fruit smoothie for the implants to wirelessly charge.
But the most significant discoveries on Wednesday sent signals back to the neurons that make up the brain and nervous system using the same electrodes.
A pig’s spinal cord was utilized in one experiment to regulate various leg motions. This technology may one day assist patients with quadriplegia walking or using their hands. Neuralink’s method entails hearing sensory signals from the legs and relaying them back to the brain so that the brain is aware of what is happening in addition to diverting the brain’s movement commands to the legs.
But I think you can see how the parts are all there to do this, said Joey O’Doherty, a researcher working on Neuralink’s motor control technology. “We have a lot of work to do to reach this entire vision,” he added.
Seeing Pictures and Mentally Typing
In a different experiment, visual information from a camera was transmitted into a monkey’s visual brain, where the monkey recognized virtual flashes as representing distinct locations. That is the technique Neuralink is hoping will help create a visual prosthesis for blind individuals.
Neuralink demonstrated next-generation models with more than 16,000 electrodes in contrast to the original generation’s 1,024 electrodes. According to Adams, adding that much information would significantly increase the image’s fidelity for visually impaired people.
According to Adams, a blind person would have 32,000 points of light to create an image of a gadget placed on both sides of their visual cortex.
People with paralysis can use their implants to type with their minds thanks to another Neuralink application.
In contrast to someone with working hands, Musk asserted, “we’re convinced that someone who has no other interface to the outside world would be able to manage their phone better.”
The Neuralink Network is not the only one
In its pursuit of brain-computer or brain-machine interface (BCI) technology, Neuralink is not acting alone.
Numerous studies have been published by academic researchers, and several firms, like BlackRock Neurotech, Precision Neuroscience, Synchron Medical, and Paradromics, are also working. Some people, like Nuro, use noninvasive techniques that don’t involve surgery.
In April, Synchron started testing a device on humans with six patients to treat paralysis. Blackrock has finished a few and is recruiting for others, such as an investigation into whether a computer interface can facilitate speech. Before Neuralink was created, another initiative to digitally connect the extremities to the brain started in 2013.
Neuralink’s focus on mass production sets it apart from some of those initiatives.
“Production is hard, I’d estimate 100 to 1,000 times tougher to get from a prototype to a device that is safe, dependable, operates in a variety of conditions, is affordable, and is done at scale,” Musk added.
It’s quite challenging.
Musk said he expects to own one of Neuralink’s brain chips and that the company plans to produce millions of them.
The business is attempting to automate as much technology as it can to achieve that goal. A more advanced machine is planned to undertake more of the surgery, including cutting through the skull. Its R1 robot weaves electrodes into the brain without harming blood arteries.
Neuralink is also attempting to position its brain chips on the exterior of the dura, a layer that is one layer external to the brain.
This calls for significant modifications to the robot’s needles and needle steering systems, which the business is now developing.
According to Christine Odabashian, who is in charge of Neuralink’s surgery engineering team, there are only around 10 neurosurgeons for every million individuals.
“We need to figure out how one neurosurgeon could oversee several treatments at once to do the most good and have a cheap and accessible technique,” said the researcher.
The Futuristic Plan for Neuralink by Elon Musk
Musk’s futuristic vision is another significant distinction between Neuralink and its competitors.
The startup has lofty goals, according to Musk, who described it as “a universal input-output device that could interface with every component of your brain.” But the long-term scheme is significantly more elaborate.
How do we deal with artificial general intelligence (AI)?
Asked Musk. “How can we reduce the risk to the species as a whole if we develop digital superintelligence that is far smarter than any human? How do humans even go along for the ride, even in a benign case where the AI is extremely kind? How do we take part?”
Neuralink is the solution in Elon Musk’s head, at least conceptually for the time being, but possibly even physically in the future.
