Elon Musk is making headlines again. This time not with quick shots on X (formerly Twitter) or a catastrophic failure at the TÜV or with Starlink satellites falling to earth, but with his Neuralink project. Because according to Musk, the patient who had a chip implanted in his brain by Musk’s company Neuralink can now control a computer mouse using only his thoughts. This is reported by Reuters.
The patient who received the brain chip from Neuralink last month is said to have fully recovered from the procedure. He can now control a computer mouse using only his thoughts. “Progress is good and the patient appears to have made a full recovery without any adverse effects that we have observed. The patient is able to move a mouse on the screen just by thinking,” Musk said. Neuralink is now trying to get as many mouse clicks as possible from the patient.
In 2023, Neuralink received legal permission to search for subjects (at least 22-year-old people who are either paralyzed from the cervical vertebrae or have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) for its experiment. As part of the tests, Neuralink uses a robot to insert a brain-computer interface implant into a region of the brain that controls the will to move. The first stage goal is for the test subjects to operate a computer cursor or keyboard using only their thoughts. That would be a huge relief for paraplegics, for example.
But Musk’s long-term goals are even more ambitious. Neuralink wants to use its brain chips to make it easier to treat diseases such as obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia.
Here Neuralink describes the requirements to be able to participate as a test person.
