Neuralink, Elon Musk’s company dedicated to the development of an interface between the brain and computers, showed a video of a monkey typing with the brain
Neuralink has released a new video showing a monkey typing using only its brain, which the company suggests will allow them to further their ambitions of implanting the chip in humans next year. The demonstration, which Neuralink says shows “telepathic typing”, allows the monkey to interact with the computer via a chip implanted in its brain, although it’s not the first time we’ve seen something like this.
Entitled “Neuralink Show and Tell,” last week’s presentation was a deep dive into the work the company has been doing lately, including neural interfacing, implant testing and spinal cord injury applications.
Elon Musk, co-founder of the company, opened the event with a presentation before several researchers performed live the implantation of the chip in a robot, a monkey typing on a virtual keyboard and other demonstrations of the various applications of a .brain-computer interface . The technology aims to help people with paralysis and blindness, but even Musk himself has hinted at the possibility of getting an implant to boost his mental abilities.
Musk stated that now that they’ve reached that point, the chip will soon be available for human clinical trials and went a step further, stating that if his children had an accident that Neuralink could help with, he believes the procedure is the only solution. right thing to do, safe enough to move on.
The billionaire has previously made outlandish claims about the technology, such as that it will “make language obsolete” in 5 to 10 years and “cure” tinnitus. The company is now awaiting FDA approval in the US to apply the implants to human brains.
While the work looks impressive, it has received significant criticism from the neuroscientific community for being far less advanced than Neurolink claims, as well as for its high mortality rates in the primates used in the tests.
Neuralink claims it’s at the forefront of technology, creating brain-computer interfaces that will dramatically change the way we treat people with neurological diseases and injuries, but neuroscientists say it’s actually years, and in some cases decades, behind schedule. Brain interfaces have been around for years, and in recent years several labs have demonstrated wired and wireless devices capable of reading brain signals and translating them into computational actions. The company is one of the only companies exploring direct brain implants, but it comes at a cost.
Reports surfaced earlier this year suggesting that Neuralink may be killing more primates than necessary, and evidence of animal mistreatment has circulated online. A lawsuit by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) alleges that the work done at the University of California at Davis, where Neuralink was based before moving to Texas, was inhumane and subjected primates to unnecessary suffering.
The university said it had 185 photos of the monkey experiments, including necropsies, but refused to release them because “the public would misunderstand them”. The lawsuit against the company for mistreatment of laboratory animals is still open.
Musk addressed these concerns at the latest Show and Tell, stating that the apes were all “happy and healthy”, but that has yet to be confirmed.