Elon Musk has updated us on his first Neuralink patient – and what they’re achieving post-op is pretty incredible.
Aside from thankfully making a “full recovery”, Elon Musk has let us know some additional nuggets of info as he spoke on a Spaces event on X.
The patient is able to move a “mouse around the screen just by thinking” after being the first human to have a Neuralink chip implanted in their brain.
READ MORE! Elon Musk says Neuralink has implanted its first brain chip in a human
The high-risk and groundbreaking procedure happened for the first time last month.
The CEO spoke on his social media platform saying that the patient “seems to have made a full recovery”.
“Progress is good and the patient seems to have made a full recovery, with neural effects that we are aware of,” he said.
Musk revealed that the next steps for the Neuralink are to get as many mouse button presses as possible from their patient.
“That’s what we’re currently working on,” Musk explained.
“Can you get left mouse, right mouse, mouse down, mouse up.”
Essentially the aim is to be able to click and drag something and gradually add new buttons, he summarized.
The ‘Telepathy’ chip was granted approval for human trial in September – and the search for an anonymous patient began.
Neuralink’s tech used a robot to surgically put a brain-computer interface implant into the brain.
First the robot removes a small chunk of the skull.
Then the chip is stitched into the region of the brain that controls the intention to move using tiny flexible thread-like electrodes.
Musk previously explained that the procedure lasts only 30 minutes, does not require general anaesthesia, and patients return home on the same day.
Neuralink’s initial goal is to let people control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts.
That enables them to communicate wirelessly.
Musk compared it to “replacing a piece of the skull with a smartwatch”.
More importantly, it could also help paralysed people walk again and cure other neurological conditions.
In a post on X, Musk explained that the device “enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device just by thinking”.
“Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs,” he said.
“Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or an auctioneer. That is the goal.”
Neuralink was valued at about $5 billion last year – making it Musk’s least valuable company.
