Elon Musk promises to have the Neuralink brain chip in a human this year

[Samira]

https://www.inceptivemind.com/elon-musk-promises-awesome-neuralink-brain-chip-human-year/11763/

The device that allows the human brain to connect to a computer could be implanted in a person for the first time later this year, announced the founder of Neuralink neurotechnology company, the tycoon Elon Musk.

Last year, Musk’s Neuralink introduced a special microchip and flexible fiber electrodes that should allow the human brain to connect to computers or machines. At the same time, he announced that the electrodes in question would like to be implanted with a laser in the future because it is more suitable than a mechanical drill for making holes in the skull.

This crazy project of Elon Musk and his startup seems to be going well. Elon Musk said on Twitter that the Neuralink is working on an “awesome” new version of the company’s signature device. “Clearly better than Utah Array,” he said contentedly.

Musk claimed that “(the new version) just needs to be unequivocally better than Utah Array, which is already in some humans & has severe drawbacks. Utah Array is an existing interface designed to record neural activity in the brain.

Neuralink’s ambitions are really great! The main purpose of the device is to compensate for entire sections of the brain lost due to a stroke, accident, or congenital disease.

Of course, it is not yet clear what the updated concept looks like and whether it will work at all. SpaceX and Tesla chief, however, is full of optimism and enthusiasm. “The potential is truly transformational for restoring brain & motor functions,” he said in his tweet on Monday.

If the arrival of the first tests on the human brain is encouraging, the road is long until the actual implantation of Neuralink. In another tweet, he says: “First, we need to make it super safe & easy to use, then determine the greatest utility vs. risk. From initially working to volume production & implantation is a long road.”