Musk’s Neuralink implants brain chip in its first human subject

Brain chip start-up Neuralink implanted a device in its first live human subject Sunday, Elon Musk, the company’s founder, said on social media. The patient “is recovering well,” Musk wrote Monday, adding that initial data from the device was promising.
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Placed in the part of the brain that plans movements, the device is designed to interpret a person’s neural activity, so they can control external devices such as a smartphone or computer with their thoughts, Neuralink’s website says. The device is currently in clinical trials, which are open to some individuals who have quadriplegia due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or a spinal cord injury, according to a recruitment pamphlet.

Musk said Monday that the first Neuralink product will be called Telepathy and initially used by people who have lost the ability to use their limbs. “Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer,” he wrote. “That’s the goal.”

But the company has faced obstacles that have critics skeptical of its goals. In November, four U.S. lawmakers (Democratic House Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, and Barbara Lee and Tony Cardenas of California) asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate if Musk misled investors about the safety of his brain implant after veterinarian records indicated experiments in monkeys resulted in “debilitating health effects,” Reuters reported.

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