The latest progress of the first brain-computer interface human subject!Musk: The patient may have recovered, and he can control the mouse by thinking
Edited by: Du Yu
On February 19, local time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on the social platform X that the first human patient implanted with a brain chip from Neuralink seems to have fully recovered and can now use his mind to control a computer mouse.
Image source: Screenshot of CNBC report
Musk also said that Neuralink is now trying to get as many mouse button click needs from patients as possible. But Musk didn't reveal anything more.
According to the Securities Times, Neuralink said the study used robotic surgery to implant brain-computer interfaces in areas of the brain that control movement intentions, with the initial goal of enabling humans to control a computer cursor or keyboard with their own minds.
Image source: Screenshot of the Daily Economic News video
Musk has high hopes for the Neuralink project, which he hopes to use to treat diseases such as obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia. In 2023, Neuralink is valued at about $5 billion.
Neuralink was founded in 2016 by Elon Musk with the aim of helping those suffering from paralysis and neurological disorders in the short term and reducing the risks of AI to humans in the long term. The company's mission is to develop brain-computer interfaces for the treatment of various brain-related diseases, with the ultimate goal of creating a whole-brain interface that can more closely connect biology and artificial intelligence.
Human cranial nerve control electronic device Image source: Neuralink official website
On January 29, local time, Musk posted on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that the first patient had received the implantation of a brain-computer interface device from Neuralink, the company he founded, and was recovering well. He also imagined that in the future, paralyzed patients could be able to communicate faster than typists, and for a while, brain-computer interface technology was pushed to the hot search.
Image source: X platform
Brain-computer interface technology is regarded as a cutting-edge technology with great medical potential, coupled with Musk's own traffic attributes, so Neuralink's related progress has been highly anticipated since it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical trials in 2023.
According to a report by the National Business Daily on November 13, 2023, thousands of people are currently waiting in line to get brain implants from Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink. The above news was revealed by biographer Ashley Vance at the end of 2023. It is reported that Neuralink expects annual revenue of up to $100 million within five years. Earlier in 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Neuralink for human trials of its device, and by September 2023, the company had begun recruiting volunteers for its first-in-human trials.
According to Neuralink's reply to a reporter's interview email on October 4, 2023, the company is recruiting patients with diseases including quadriplegia, paraplegia, hearing loss, major amputation, and cataracts. However, Cai Lei, a ALS fighter and former vice president of JD.com, believes that brain-computer interfaces cannot save lives, but can only increase communication, and he said in an interview with reporters on September 23, 2023, "I personally do not have time to participate in the trial at present."
In recent years, crazy brain scientists, with Musk as the spiritual leader, have decided to manipulate a robot and put a coin-sized implant into the human brain to create a group of super humans with enhanced memory, immortal souls, half human and half machine, but this road is not easy to follow.
According to a report by National Business Daily on December 28, 2023, the concept of brain-computer interface originated from the idea of Jacques Vidal, a computer scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1973, that is, real-time signals sent by the brain can be detected through electrodes placed on the scalp and translated into control computers.
Image source: Visual China
It's important to note that Neuralink's progress is not industry-leading. According to Musk biographer Walter Isaacson, Musk's most concerned opponent is Synchron, whose clinical trials were approved earlier. It is reported that the company has already used 6 severely paralyzed people to perform simple digital device operation with Synchron equipment in 2023, and will end this round of feasibility trials in August 2024.
According to Walter Isaacson, the anxious Musk has repeatedly urged Neuralink's engineers to speed up the process. "Past tests have shown the intrusive nature of the equipment and the serious safety risks posed by the hasty actions of the company's employees. The Commission on Responsible Physicians criticized in a statement on January 30.
In fact, the controversy surrounding Neuralink has continued over the past few years.
The U.S. Department of Transportation fined Neuralink $2,480 for irregularities in transporting dangerous goods such as the toxic gas xylene, which stemmed from a complaint by the Responsible Physicians Committee, Reuters reported on January 26.
Another major controversy of Neuralink is that its early animal experiments have caused too many animal deaths, and Reuters and Wired magazine have been tracking this issue for a long time. According to a December 2022 report by Reuters, Neuralink's trial resulted in the death of more than 1,500 animals, and some employees wrote internally that the company's rush had caused many employees to be overstressed and ill-prepared, which increased the unnecessary suffering and death of the test animals.
In November 2023, four U.S. lawmakers jointly asked the SEC to investigate whether Musk misled investors about the safety of his technology, after Musk said on platform X that "no monkeys died due to the implantation of Neuralink."
In addition to the animal ethics controversy, many people have also criticized Neuralink's technical path and Musk's grand vision. According to the Council of Responsible Doctors, Musk's goal is to "achieve symbiosis with artificial intelligence" through Neuralink's technology, but such a path does not necessarily coincide with the best way to treat patients. In addition, non-invasive brain-computer interfaces have proven to make progress in improving patient health, and Neuralink's craniotomy approach may pose unnecessary risks.
Screenshot of the statement of the Responsible Doctors Committee Image source: Screenshot of the official website
Miguel Nicolellis, a professor of neuroscience at Duke University School of Medicine in the United States and known as the "father of brain-computer interfaces", has previously said that invasive brain-computer interfaces are for scientific research and are not the best choice for patients, and implantation methods should be limited to very severe cases.
Despite the controversy, the role of the "golden" Musk in promoting the field of brain-computer interface cannot be ignored. John Donoghue, a professor at Brown University, said he needed about $100 million to set up Cyberkinetics, but it was difficult to raise it. At present, on the basis of the accumulation of knowledge in the academic community, Musk has brought in the money again, "I am very happy to see that one day a commercial (brain-computer interface) product will appear to help mankind." ”
Daily Economic News integrates CNBC, Securities Times, National Business Daily, and X platform
National Business Daily