Elon Musk’s Neuralink, the secretive company developing brain-machine interfaces, showed off some of the technology it has been developing to the public for the first time. The goal is to eventually begin implanting devices in paralyzed humans, allowing them to control phones or computers.
The first big advance is flexible “threads,†which are less likely to damage the brain than the materials currently used in brain-machine interfaces. These threads also create the possibility of transferring a higher volume of data, according to a white paper credited to “Elon Musk & Neuralink.†The abstract notes that the system could include “as many as 3,072 electrodes per array distributed across 96 threads.â€
The threads are 4 to 6 μm in width, which makes them considerably thinner than a human hair. In addition to developing the threads, Neuralink’s other big advance is a machine that automatically embeds them.
Musk gave a big presentation of Neuralink’s research Tuesday night, though he said that it wasn’t simply for hype. “The main reason for doing this presentation is recruiting,†Musk said, asking people to go apply to work there. Max Hodak, president of Neuralink, also came on stage and admitted that he wasn’t originally sure “this technology was a good idea,†but that Musk convinced him it would be possible.
In the future, scientists from Neuralink hope to use a laser beam to get through the skull, rather than drilling holes, they said in interviews with The New York Times. Early experiments will be done with neuroscientists at Stanford University, according to that report. “We hope to have this in a human patient by the end of next year,†Musk said.
During a Q&A at the end of the presentation, Musk revealed results that the rest of the team hadn’t realized he would: “A monkey has been able to control a computer with its brain.â€
“It’s not going to be suddenly Neuralink will have this neural lace and start taking over people’s brains,†Musk said. “Ultimately†he wants “to achieve a symbiosis with artificial intelligence.†And that even in a “benign scenario,†humans would be “left behind.†Hence, he wants to create technology that allows a “merging with AI.†He later added “we are a brain in a vat, and that vat is our skull,†and so the goal is to read neural spikes from that brain.
The first paralyzed person to receive a brain implant that allowed him to control a computer cursor was Matthew Nagle. In 2006, Nagle, who had a spinal cord injury, played Pong using only his mind; the basic movement required took him only four days to master, he told The New York Times. Since then, paralyzed people with brain implants have also brought objects into focus and moved robotic arms in labs, as part of scientific research. The system Nagle and others have used is called BrainGate and was developed initially at Brown University.
“Neuralink didn’t come out of nowhere, there’s a long history of academic research here,†Hodak said at the presentation on Tuesday. “We’re, in the greatest sense, building on the shoulders of giants.†However, none of the existing technologies fit Neuralink’s goal of directly reading neural spikes in a minimally invasive way.
The system presented today, if it’s functional, may be a substantial advance over older technology. BrainGate relied on the Utah Array, a series of stiff needles that allows for up to 128 electrode channels. Not only is that fewer channels than Neuralink is promising â€" meaning less data from the brain is being picked up â€" it’s also stiffer than Neuralink’s threads. That’s a problem for long-term functionality: the brain shifts in the skull but the needles of the array don’t, leading to damage. The thin polymers Neuralink is using may solve that problem.
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The first big advance is flexible “threads,†which are less likely to damage the brain than the materials currently used in brain-machine interfaces. These threads also create the possibility of transferring a higher volume of data, according to a white paper credited to “Elon Musk & Neuralink.†The abstract notes that the system could include “as many as 3,072 electrodes per array distributed across 96 threads.â€
The threads are 4 to 6 μm in width, which makes them considerably thinner than a human hair. In addition to developing the threads, Neuralink’s other big advance is a machine that automatically embeds them.
Musk gave a big presentation of Neuralink’s research Tuesday night, though he said that it wasn’t simply for hype. “The main reason for doing this presentation is recruiting,†Musk said, asking people to go apply to work there. Max Hodak, president of Neuralink, also came on stage and admitted that he wasn’t originally sure “this technology was a good idea,†but that Musk convinced him it would be possible.
In the future, scientists from Neuralink hope to use a laser beam to get through the skull, rather than drilling holes, they said in interviews with The New York Times. Early experiments will be done with neuroscientists at Stanford University, according to that report. “We hope to have this in a human patient by the end of next year,†Musk said.
During a Q&A at the end of the presentation, Musk revealed results that the rest of the team hadn’t realized he would: “A monkey has been able to control a computer with its brain.â€
“It’s not going to be suddenly Neuralink will have this neural lace and start taking over people’s brains,†Musk said. “Ultimately†he wants “to achieve a symbiosis with artificial intelligence.†And that even in a “benign scenario,†humans would be “left behind.†Hence, he wants to create technology that allows a “merging with AI.†He later added “we are a brain in a vat, and that vat is our skull,†and so the goal is to read neural spikes from that brain.
The first paralyzed person to receive a brain implant that allowed him to control a computer cursor was Matthew Nagle. In 2006, Nagle, who had a spinal cord injury, played Pong using only his mind; the basic movement required took him only four days to master, he told The New York Times. Since then, paralyzed people with brain implants have also brought objects into focus and moved robotic arms in labs, as part of scientific research. The system Nagle and others have used is called BrainGate and was developed initially at Brown University.
“Neuralink didn’t come out of nowhere, there’s a long history of academic research here,†Hodak said at the presentation on Tuesday. “We’re, in the greatest sense, building on the shoulders of giants.†However, none of the existing technologies fit Neuralink’s goal of directly reading neural spikes in a minimally invasive way.
The system presented today, if it’s functional, may be a substantial advance over older technology. BrainGate relied on the Utah Array, a series of stiff needles that allows for up to 128 electrode channels. Not only is that fewer channels than Neuralink is promising â€" meaning less data from the brain is being picked up â€" it’s also stiffer than Neuralink’s threads. That’s a problem for long-term functionality: the brain shifts in the skull but the needles of the array don’t, leading to damage. The thin polymers Neuralink is using may solve that problem.
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