图源:Neuralink官网
Musk's dream of a "brain-computer interface" is closer to being realized.
On January 30, Beijing time, Musk announced on the social platform X that the first human received an implant from the brain-computer interface company Neuralink yesterday and is currently recovering well. Preliminary results show good promise for neuron spike detection.
Brain-computer interface company Neuralink's first product was called Telepathy. According to Musk, he can control a phone or computer with just his mind, and use them to control almost any device. The initial users will be those who have lost limb function.
Musk said that the plan for the next five years is to allow humans to communicate directly through their brains without using language. In the future, people's consciousness can be uploaded to a cloud space with the help of brain-computer interfaces, and finally realize the "immortality of consciousness" of human beings.
What is a brain-computer interface?
"Brain-computer interface" is a transformative human-computer interaction technology that works by collecting neural signals in the brain and analyzing them into specific instructions. Normally, the human or animal brain relies on nerves and muscles to output instructions to the external environment, and this technology can create a direct connection between the brain and external devices, and realize the direct exchange of information between the "brain" and the "machine".
At present, brain-computer interface technology is divided into three categories: non-invasive, invasive, and semi-invasive, according to whether it needs to invade the brain and the degree of invasiveness. Neuralink, on the other hand, uses a more radical "intrusive technology". According to the official website, Neuralink is developing a "fully implanted, wireless, high-channel-count brain-computer interface" with the goal of enabling paralyzed patients to quickly and easily operate computers and mobile devices directly using their neural activity.
Founded in 2016, Neuralink now has more than 100 employees and focuses on the research and development of implantable brain-computer interface devices. Important functions of BCI devices include helping to treat memory loss, cervical spinal cord injuries and other neurological diseases, helping patients with motor dysfunction and paralysis to regain some of their abilities, and even helping them walk again, improving and enhancing their quality of life. With the development of brain-computer interface technology, its potential application scenarios in the medical and non-medical fields are also expanding, including monitoring and evaluating brain status, regulating nerves, enhancing sensory ability, improving game control, and being used in education, military and other fields.
The potential of brain-computer interface devices is powerful, but the safety of their implantation into the human body has been the subject of controversy and concern. Implantation of electrodes by craniotomy is very risky, and foreign body invasion can also trigger an immune response and the formation of scar tissue, which may also affect the quality of the electrode signal.
In August 2020, Musk showed a live online broadcast of piglets whose brains are implanted with brain-computer interface devices, and their brain activity signals can be read in real time. The piglets that were removed after the brain implant device were healthy and there was no significant difference compared to the normal piglets. In 2021, Neuralink caused a huge sensation when he implanted a microchip into the monkey's brain, allowing it to play video games with his mind.
Source: CCTV Finance
Since 2019, Musk has repeatedly said that Neuralink will soon begin human trials of brain-computer interfaces, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected Neuralink's application for human trials on the grounds of safety risks. Until May 25, 2023, Neuralink announced that it has received FDA approval to initiate a first-in-human clinical study of brain implants.
On September 19, 2023, Neuralink announced that it had received approval from an independent review committee to conduct first-in-human trials to implant devices in the brains of paralyzed patients.
Last month, Neuralink said it was looking for quadriplegic patients under the age of 40 to participate in human trials. It also said surgeons would remove part of the skull of the test patient, which would then be taken over by a robot called R1, about 2 meters tall, to implant 64 wires equipped with electrodes into the patient's brain. The electrodes are programmed to collect data about the brain, including neural activity associated with motor intention. These neural signals recorded by the electrodes are then sent back to the Neuralink computer for decoding.
The brain chip, which reportedly has 1,000 electrodes, is designed to allow people to think about what they want to do through a "think and click" mechanism to wirelessly perform computer functions.
It is unclear how many human volunteers will be involved in this technology trial. The study, known as PRIME, is a trial of its wireless brain-computer interface to evaluate the safety of implants and surgical robots. According to the company's website, the study will evaluate the function of the brain-computer interface to enable paralyzed patients to control external devices with their minds. The study will take about 6 years to complete.
U.S. lawmakers and medical ethics groups have demanded an investigation into Musk and his company
Since Neuralink's founding, the controversy and doubts surrounding the company have not stopped. The company applied for human clinical trials of an implantable brain-computer interface device in 2022, but it was not approved by the FDA at the time due to concerns about the safety of the device.
According to people familiar with the matter, the FDA's main safety concerns at the time included: the safety of lithium batteries for implanted devices; the potential risk of tiny filaments implanted in the device migrating to other areas of the brain; whether the device can be removed without damaging the brain tissue, etc.
In May 2023, Neuralink received FDA approval to initiate human clinical trials of implantable brain-computer interface devices, which is considered a key milestone in the development of implantable brain-computer interface devices. In September of the same year, Neural Connections said it had received approval to recruit volunteers for human trials.
In November 2023, four U.S. lawmakers jointly asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Musk misled investors about the security of his technology. They said there were records of problems with Neural Connections after implanting brain-computer interface devices in monkeys' brains, causing illnesses or injuries such as paralysis, seizures and brain swelling.
Previous investigative reports in the US media also pointed out that 12 macaques suffered chronic infection, paralysis, brain swelling and other adverse side effects during the experiment of the "Neural Connection" company, and were eventually euthanized. In some cases, the installation of titanium plates and bone screws has failed, causing the implanted devices to loosen or even fall off, the report said.
In response, Musk admitted that some of Neuralink's macaques died during clinical trials, but he denied that their deaths were caused by implantable brain-computer interface devices. Musk did not disclose the specific cause of death of the monkeys, only claiming that the monkeys selected for the trial were "on the verge of death."
The Committee of Responsible Physicians, an American medical ethics organization, has repeatedly called on Musk to publish details of experiments conducted with monkeys, and urged government departments to investigate allegations that Neural Connections is alleged to be exaggerated or misleading in areas such as safety.
"Subjects should have serious concerns about the safety of the 'neural connection' device. Ryan Merkley, a responsible person at the Responsible Physicians Committee, wrote that there were well-documented reports that the company had conducted hasty and sloppy experiments on monkeys and other animals.
Miguel Nicolellis, a professor of neuroscience at Duke University School of Medicine in the United States, previously said in an interview that he would not recommend implantable brain-computer interface devices to the public. He said that the original intention of implantable brain-computer interfaces was for scientific research, and it was not the best choice for patients. The application of implantable brain-computer interfaces is limited to very severe cases or a small number of patients with complete paralysis.
"The mistake of Musk and Neural Connectivity is to focus too much on technology and hardware development rather than the risks of brain-implanted devices. I see them talking about technology as if it's not for people. Nico Laelis told the media. Nicolellis is reportedly a pioneer in brain-computer interface technology. Max Hodak, one of the co-founders of Neural Connections, was a student of Nicolyllis.
In addition, brain-computer interface technology faces ethical controversy. Because brain-computer interface devices directly reflect brain signals, they can infringe on personal privacy. "Whatever you want to do, it's not private. Nick Ramsey, a neuroscientist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told the media that it is therefore necessary to ensure the informed consent of trial participants, but for patients who lack the ability to express themselves, ensuring informed consent is a complex process.
In the long run, the ethical controversies facing brain-computer interface technology don't stop there. Some experts have suggested that BCI may have an impact on social equity in the future, while others have suggested the establishment of a special body to regulate the use of BCI technology.
The new progress of brain-computer interface has led to a sharp rise in the concept of A-shares
The first human patient has received a brain microchip, and the patient is "recovering well" with encouraging initial results.
Affected by this news, in the morning of the same day, brain-computer interface concept stocks ushered in a sharp rise. Among them, Sanbo Brain Science rose 14.65%; Oriental Zhongke once rose to the limit, innovative medical to the limit, Zhongke Information, Hanwei Technology, etc. followed up. As of the close, Hanwei Technology rose 0.67%, Zhongke Information rose 1.60%, iFLYTEK rose 1.81%, Innovative Medical rose 10.07%, and Sanbo Brain Science rose 11.4%.
At present, domestic research in the field of brain-computer interface is supported by policies and funds, and many companies such as Innovative Medical, Sanbo Neuroscience, and Guanhao Biotechnology have obtained a number of financings.
On January 29, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other seven departments jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovation and Development of Future Industries", proposing to comprehensively lay out future industries, break through key technologies and core devices such as brain-computer fusion, brain-like chips, and brain computing neural models, develop a number of easy-to-use and safe brain-computer interface products, and encourage the exploration of applications in typical fields such as medical rehabilitation, unmanned driving, and virtual reality.
Under the close attention of the industry, some A-share listed companies have recently responded to the layout of brain-computer interfaces.
Yingqu Technology responded on the interactive platform that the company currently has a number of brain-computer interface innovation research and development projects that are still in the research and development stage, such as artificial neurorehabilitation robots, brain-computer fatigue driving monitoring, digital EEG machines, etc.
Jiahe Intelligent Co., Ltd. has invention patents for related technologies "brainwave acquisition communication system, communication frame generation device and reading device".
The medical institutions under the International Medical Group have organized and carried out special research projects in the field of brain-computer interface.
Century Huatong invests in the ecological enterprises in the field of non-invasive brain-computer interface combined with digital therapeutics, focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of cranial nerve diseases, and its "attention enhancement training software" has obtained the Class II medical device certificate of the State Drug Administration.
Minsheng Securities Research Report said that brain-computer interface, as an emerging industry, technology is mainly divided into hardware layer and software layer. The hardware layer includes EEG acquisition equipment and external control equipment, and the software layer includes biological signal analysis, core algorithms, communication computing, and security privacy, all of which mainland companies are involved in.
It will take time for the brain-computer interface to be commercialized
Whether in the scientific community or in industry, brain-computer interfaces have received a lot of attention.
According to Neuralink's latest filing with the SEC in November last year, the company has now raised at least $323 million in funding, which also values the high-profile brain-computer interface company at more than $5 billion (about 35.9 billion yuan).
As for Musk's brain-computer interface, the industry evaluation is also quite optimistic. Previously, Gao Xiaorong, a tenured professor at Tsinghua University School of Medicine, who has been engaged in brain-computer interface research for 20 years, said that the two major features of Neuralink products are high throughput and full implantation. On the other hand, surgical robots greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of electrode wire insertion into the brain.
Dr. Liu Dan, a senior investor in the medical industry, also said that flexible high-density electrodes and automatic implantable robots can greatly reduce the difficulty of surgeons' surgery, and after 6-7 years of preliminary research and development and polishing, and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, Neuralink has an international leading advantage in the research and development of the whole chain of implantable brain-computer interfaces.
At the same time, not only Musk's company, but also Huawei, Google, Meta and other giants at home and abroad have a layout in this field. Brain-computer interface is essentially a mode of interaction, and it is expected to become the next generation of human-computer interaction technology, replacing or partially replacing keyboard and mouse, touch screen, motion capture, VR equipment, etc. At the same time, with the continuous development of the metaverse and the continuous exploration of brain science in the future, brain-computer interface may become the entrance of the next generation of the metaverse after VR and AR.
According to Liu Dan's observation, the current mainland brain-computer interface track is also very lively - the commercialized products are mainly non-invasive brain-computer interface technology, and the invasive brain-computer interface technology applied as a medical device in China is in the preclinical research and researcher-initiated research stage, and goes hand in hand with leading international companies; In the past two years, the capital has actively deployed brain-computer interface technology, with top institutions such as Sequoia, CDH, and Aobo entering the market, and a number of brain-computer interface companies have obtained high financing in the past two years; Affected by the progress of Neuralink's clinical trials, even if it is not a narrow "brain-computer interface", related concept stocks have become the object of a new round of capital chasing......
Although the trial of Neuralink has made progress, and the industrial value of brain-computer interface has also made industry professionals and capital markets rush to it, and accelerate the investment layout of the brain-computer industry, it will take time for the commercialization of brain-computer interface human brain chip implantation.
Huaan Securities believes that the development of the brain-computer interface industry chain is still in the early stage, and the upstream equipment has not yet achieved standardized mass production, and self-developed brain-computer interface chips and algorithms have become core technical barriers. The high threshold of brain-computer interface chips is reflected in the challenging design of analog circuits, high requirements for low power consumption, and wireless communication technology with wireless energy transmission.
Liu Dan believes that at present, domestic and foreign brain-computer interface companies are in the stage of simultaneous development and common development. Continental BCI can learn from the experience of leading BCI companies in terms of technical parameters and technical route design, and at the same time actively cooperate with overseas experts with rich experience in the clinical application of brain-computer interface of the US Food and Drug Administration to explore the path of overseas application.
(WeChat public account "Caizhi Toutiao" is synthesized from: interface news, daily economic news, poster news, CBN, CCTV, etc.)
Editor: Bai Jing
Proofreading: Fenghua
Review: Gong Zimo