© Neuralink
2024 is a pivotal year for Neuralink, Elon Musk's neurotechnology company. After a standoff that lasted several years with the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), Neuralink was finally able to test its brain implant on human patients. But more than two weeks after the first clinical trial, Elon Musk and Neuralink were far from talkative.
This Monday, February 19, 2024, the businessman gave news of this first human patient during a Space (an audio show, editor's note) on X (ex-Twitter) . According to Elon Musk, this first human guinea pig would now be able to control a computer mouse by thought.
The first Neuralink patient controls a computer mouse by thought
With his neurotechnology company, Elon Musk has the ambition to cure the incurable, to restore sight to blind people and mobility for quadriplegic people by revolutionizing brain-computer interfaces. But a lack of transparency around Neuralink worries many experts. While the success of Neuralink would be a real feat from a strictly scientific point of view, the company's ethics are often called into question. Elon Musk has never hidden his desire to provide everyone with his brain implant. Not to cure but also to simplify everyday life.
Still, the first human patient with the Neuralink brain implant is doing well. That, in any case, is what Elon Musk says. “Progress is good, the patient appears to have made a full recovery, with no side effects that we are aware of. And he is able to control the mouse, to move it on the screen just by thinking” he confided at the start of the week.
Elon Musk even backed up his remarks. He explains that Neuralink tries to get as many button presses as possible through thought. Neuralink researchers are currently working on the possibility of clicking the mouse left or right, moving it up or down… Indeed, this is necessary to use your computer. In particular to click on an element and drag it from one place to another.
In August and November 2023, Neuralink managed to raise a total of $323 million to carry out its project. We imagine that we will quickly have more news about the first human patient from Elon Musk's neurotechnology company. As a reminder, Neuralink has been singled out on several occasions regarding potential animal abuse. Indeed, 1,500 animals died because of these experiments. But the FDA green light certainly makes sense.
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