In early January 2024, we reported the news of the first patient to receive a Neuralink implant. We’re talking about brain chip who designed and built the company owned by Elon Musk.
Il chip N1 of Neuralink is implanted in the patient’s skull and is connected to the brain through electrical connections thinner than a human hair. The wires allow the connection of 1,024 electrodes capable of simultaneously detecting signals and stimulating millions of brain neurons. The signals thus acquired are then transferred into wireless mode for processing and interpretation, generally in real time.
We presented at the time, in detail, the functioning of the Neuralink N1 chip.
How the first brain implant surgery with Neuralink N1 chip went
Three weeks after the implant, Musk himself shared an update on the patient’s status. According to what was revealed by the entrepreneurthe patient has fully recovered and is now already able to check pointer e cursor of a computer just with thought.
Neuralink experts, assisted by the medical team, made no findings side effects and the progress recorded so far is defined as extremely positive.
In the video published on mobile devicesimulating touches on the screen simply by “thinking” them.
In the simulation we see that the user equipped with the N1 chip becomes able, for example, to interact with a virtual keyboard, make calls and answer incoming phone calls, and write elaborate texts.
An interface between human brain and computer for those patients suffering from severely disabling problems
The neurotechnology company had won approval to start the first human clinical trial from Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) in May 2023. A few months after that “green light”, Neuralink can offer that innovative brain-computer interface (BCI, Brain-Computer Interface), which had been talked about for a long time.
These interfaces, at least on paper, can bring enormous benefits to patients whose lives have been severely affected by illness or injury. We are not just talking about paralyzed patients who can walk again, but also people who – thanks to the N1 chip – are able to see again.
N1 is not Neuralink’s only product. The company also developed its own surgical robot, R1for the precise, fast and safe implantation of brain chips.
While Neuralink offers hope to many patients, Musk’s ambitions still seem even loftier. The goal, criticized by some observers, would be to enrich the human brain with the abilities deriving from the implementation of models based on artificial intelligence. But is it true “enrichment” to go beyond the abilities provided by mother nature?
Opening image credit: Neuralink