The billionaire plans to increase the capabilities of the human brain by allowing it a direct connection with artificial intelligence and the cloud.
Applications are open. Elon Musk, founder of Neuralink – a neurotechnology company that develops brain implants, is looking for a second guinea pig to create a new implant.
“This is our cybernetic telepathy brain implant that allows you to control your phone and your computer simply by thinking,” explains the billionaire on his social network (X, ex-Twitter).
An announcement that comes just two days after Reuters made revelations about a Neuralink implant that was installed in the head of Noland Arbaugh, the first patient of the company founded in 2016.
According to the investigation, the American company had presented – to the American health authority (FDA) – with full knowledge of the facts, a faulty model of its system during tests on animals. All to obtain FDA approval in order to be able to touch the human brain.
Regain motor skills, but not only that
As a reminder, the main objective of Neuralink is to directly connect the human brain to computers. In particular to allow people suffering from brain injuries, neurological disorders or paralysis to regain certain motor or cognitive abilities thanks to this brain-machine interface.
Also, Elon Musk plans to increase the capabilities of the human brain by allowing it a direct connection with artificial intelligence and the cloud.
The implant is made up of tiny flexible wires with electrodes capable of both detecting neuron activity and stimulating certain areas of the brain. Although revolutionary, this technology is still in its infancy. But last March, Starlink revealed in a video that Noland Arbaugh was able to play chess and control his computer thanks to the implant in his brain, despite his paralysis.
More recently, the latter indicated “living at (his) pace” 100 days after the implant was installed in his brain. “You’re giving me too much, it’s like luxury overload, I haven’t been able to do these things for 8 years, and now I don’t even know where to start and where to allocate my attention,” rejoiced Noland Arbaugh.
Despite its apparent success, this first operation raises ethical questions about the boundary between human and machine. Elon Musk prefers to believe it and is waiting for his second patient. According to Bloomberg, 11 people are expected to undergo Neuralink surgery this year. The company would target more than 22,000 users by 2030.
