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Elon Musk hopes his startup Neuralink will be able to install its improved neural implant in several more people by the end of the year, after fixing the glitch that temporarily reduced his first patient’s ability to move a mouse cursor with his mind.
Elon Musk plans to implant 5 patients by the end of the year
“It is only now that we are moving towards our second patient. But we hope, if all goes well, to have several, more than five, this year.“, the billionaire said Wednesday during a live conference on X (formerly Twitter), his social network.
“For the next phase of deployment, we really want to make sure that we are making as much progress as possible between each Neuralink patient.“, said the boss of Tesla and SpaceX.
In January, Neuralink placed its first brain implant on a patient, Noland Arbaugh, 29, who has been quadriplegic since a diving accident.
In March, the company released a video showing Noland playing chess online, with his mind, without mentioning a mishap: After the surgery, some of the electrode wires had retracted from his brain. Because they are used to pick up neural signals, the patient had temporarily lost the ability to control the on-screen cursor.
Objective 1: “Restoring mobility to paralyzed people”
Neuralink later said it had fixed the problem, notably by improving the recording algorithm to make it more sensitive to signals.
The startup reviewed its progress and goals on Wednesday, including implanting wires deeper into the brain to improve patients’ abilities.
She hopes to one day be able to restore mobility to paralyzed people, thanks to a second implant, at the level of the spinal cord.
Elon Musk also promised again that this technology would give humans “superpowers”.
Goal 2: “Compete with AI to save civilization”
Neuralink is also looking to increase the bandwidth of the connection between the brain and the computer, because “For the symbiosis between humans and artificial intelligence (AI), it is very important to be able to communicate at a speed that AI can keep up with.” assured the leader.
He regularly speaks of the “risk to our civilization” that AI represents according to him, and hopes that brain implants will allow humans to compete with machines and therefore contain the risk that they take control.
Neuralink had obtained the green light in May 2023 from the American Agency for Drugs and Medical Devices (FDA) for clinical trials of its implant, the size of a coin.
According to the company, Arbaugh now spends nearly 70 hours a week using it, for testing and personal use.
Many other start-ups and laboratories are developing brain implants.