First-Ever Neuralink Subject Receives Brain Implant

Elon Musk has reported that the Neuralink effort has surgically installed the first brain implant into a human subject.

The device is similar in appearance and size to a coin and has multiple threads connected to human brain tissue.

What Does the Neuralink Do?

Musk says that the eventual goal is to have people gain the ability to connect their brains to wireless technology, such as phones.

The first person to be implanted with this device is not identified publicly at the time of writing, but Musk says they are recovering well from the surgery.

The initial reports show neuron spike detection results that Neuralink officials call encouraging, reflecting cellular activity between the patient's brain and nervous system. Musk reported all this through X, the social media platform he owns formerly branded as Twitter.

Neuralink has been trying to recruit possible human test subjects for multiple months so that it could start a clinical trial. The Food and Drug Administration approved the trial in May of 2023, and the company hoped to enlist individuals age 22 or older who met one of two conditions.

The Test Subjects and the Trial

The first group was potential test subjects with quadriplegia because they had suffered a spinal cord injury.

Another group was people diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, which is a disease that renders individuals unable to control their bodies physically.

The clinical trial Neuralink is running is PRIME, an acronym for Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface. The name implies the purpose of the process, which is a robot surgically inserting the company's implant wires into the portion of the human brain responsible for movement.

Neuralink officials hope the device will interpret the test subject's neural activity to the point of them operating a smartphone or computer just with their mental intention to move.

If successful, they could use wireless technology free of external wires or actual physical movements with their arms, hands, and fingers.

The Neuralink Design

The microscopic needles involved in the implant procedure are custom-made. In an October post on X, the company said the tips are only 10 to 12 microns wide. That's only a little bigger than the average red blood cell.

This tiny size lets the threads be inserted while minimally damaging the cortex. One of the many goals of the broader PRIME trial is to surgically implant a device that is cosmetically invisible to other people.

The implant has 1024 different electrodes distributed across 64 distinct threads, and it's a primary piece of hardware involved in the trial.

Another piece of crucial hardware is the surgical robot used to insert the implant, as this is too small to accomplish directly with a surgeon using their own hands. There is also a Neuralink app that lets the test subjects connect themselves wirelessly to smartphones, computers, and other devices.

A small battery powers the N1 implant, which can be charged wirelessly from outside the test subject's body using an inductive charger. After successfully concluding the first human implant surgery, Musk reported that the implant product would be named Telepathy.

Initial users of this produce would be those who have previously lost use of their natural limbs. They should be able to use their computer or phone just by thinking.

Musk speculated what Stephen Hawking might have been able to do if he'd communicated faster than auctioneers or professional typists.

Neuralink claims that they want to push the boundaries of what humans are capable of regarding independence and interaction.

Excitement and Controversy

The research Neuralink has done has generated controversy in the past. Allegations emerged in 2022 and 2023 that the company's testing had debilitated several animals. Reports suggested that a dozen monkeys had been euthanized throughout the research.

Musk denied these reports, stating no monkeys had perished because of Neuralink implants. He did say that early testing using monkeys utilized terminal animals already close to death to preserve the health of vigorous monkeys.

Several members of Congress have requested the Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Department of Agriculture to investigate Musk's claims of animal implant testing for potential conflicts of interest and overstatement of the implants' potential.

Musk's claims of only a dozen monkeys dying during testing conflict with accusations of far more widespread animal deaths.

A federal probe is looking into possible violations of animal welfare based on complaints from project staff about the testing being rushed. Reuters has reviewed documents provided from within company operations.

In the last five years, experiments at Neuralink may have claimed the lives of approximately 1,500 animals. Nearly 20% of those have included monkeys, pigs, and sheep.

Despite the concerns, there are many excited about the potential. The convergence of neurology and computers has been developing over the last few decades.

In particular, research has boomed in decoding electrical activity in the brain around impulses, images, and words. The work has involved an implantable BCI or brain-computer interface.

Much of the research has looked for ways to help blind and paralyzed people interact with the world around them. However, many have also looked at implants as a means of improving the quality of life for other people.

Musk has discussed using technology to meld human neural tissue with artificial intelligence. A connected individual could play video games, stream content, and browse the internet only using the power of their mind.

What Is Neuralink?

Musk founded Neuralink in 2016 with a group of various engineers. In addition to restoring various physical functions, believers hope it will restore neural activity within the body.

The company is based in Austin and San Francisco, and leaders in the organization also hope to cure neurological conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's. Animal testing has been successful in several documented examples.

Neuralink is not alone in this work. Synchron is a competing organization that received regulatory approval for human trials earlier but also has less ambitious designs in terms of potential medical advances.

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