Neuralink, the medical neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk, has placed a brain implant on a human for the first time. The patient is recovering well after Sunday's surgery, the tycoon wrote on X. “Initial results show promising detection of neuronal spikes,” he added.
The Neuralink implant was designed to allow people to use a smartphone with their thoughts, among other technologies.
In May, Neuralink was cleared to use the flat, round implant in a clinical trial with humans, after it was previously tested on monkeys. The implant is equipped with 1,024 electrodes, which a robot connects to the brain with an extremely thin needle.
For the clinical trial, Neuralink was looking for patients with tetraplegia – paralysis of the legs and arms.
When people start to move, a certain area of the brain becomes active. The electrodes pick up these signals and should be sufficient to imagine a movement to operate, for example, a cursor on a computer.
Even with successful interventions, patients can take months to learn to control computers with their thoughts. The Neuralink clinical study was designed to last six years.
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