It is no secret that Elon Musk owns companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter too, which he recently bought for about $44 billion. But, did you know he is also the boss of a neural interface technology company called Neuralink? Yes, you read it right. You must be wondering why everyone is talking about it right now. Well, Musk has announced that his company has built a chip that could be embedded in a person’s brain to help disabled people. Interestingly, the billionaire also asserted that this chip would also be implanted in his brain too, during one of the demos. But, what is it, and how it works? Keep reading to know more.
Neuralink chip: What is it?
It is an artificial intelligence-powered microchip that can read and record brain activity. It can be used to help disabled people move or communicate properly and for other things. Interestingly, the chip will also allow anyone with “paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using their thumbs,” which is something that Musk said back in 2016.
Neuralink chip: How it works?
It is a very tiny chip that is surgically implanted in a person’s brain. It contains a lot of tiny wires, and each wire is reportedly 20 times thinner than human hair. These wires, which spread into a person’s brain, are equipped with 1,024 electrodes to keep track of brain activity and, electrically, stimulate the brain. The registered data can also get transmitted wirelessly via the chip to computers, which researchers can use for further studies.
Neuralink chip: What it will do?
The company has reportedly made claims that the chip can read your thoughts and even let you talk to machines without opening your mouth. Currently, it is said that the chip can allow people to control basic devices like smartphones and computers.
We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human,” Musk said during a much-awaited public update on the device.
The company has been working on this tech for a long time now and it has tested it on animals too. The Neuralink chip has been successfully implanted in the brains of a monkey and a pig. The company today announced that it aims to start human trials of a brain chip in about six months.
The firm has claimed that its latest technology can cure paralysis, blindness, memory loss, and other neurological diseases. It can reportedly enable “superhuman vision,” or give people the ability to communicate with machines.
Can this chip be removed? Is it safe?
Earlier this year, the company claimed that it has made several successful attempts and that it is safe to implant in someone’s brain to cure diseases.
“Neuralink’s working well in monkeys, and we’re actually doing just a lot of testing and just confirming that it’s very safe and reliable and the Neuralink device can be removed safely.”
