Neuralink Corporation, the neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk and others in 2016 to develop implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), intends to start trials on humans in 2020.
Armed with $185 million in funds, Neuralink developed a "sewing machine-like" device capable of embedding very thin threads into the brain. It also demonstrated a system that reads information from a lab rat via 1,500 electrodes. The system is said to be 15 times more powerful than the current maximum for systems used in human brains.
Neuralink is awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin clinical trials of the embedding device. Neuralink CEO Elon Musk said the start-up wants to have its first human patient equipped with the technology before the end of 2020.
"It will take a long time, and you'll see it coming," said Musk on Tuesday during a live-streamed presentation at the California Academy of Sciences. Musk said there could be an "app store" in the future for different programs that could tap the technology.
In 2017, Musk wrote Neuralink "is aiming to bring something to market that helps with certain severe brain injuries (stroke, cancer lesion, congenital) in about four years."
Musk believes Neuralink's BCI technology can eventually assist in cognitive capabilities like speech and sight. Applications for this tech include helping people control computers with their brain activity or restoring the ability to speak, according to Philip Sabes, the senior scientist at Neuralink.
Musk also said people might also communicate with one another using technology through a kind of telepathy.
Musk also plans to have Neuralink tech save humanity from the looming threat of dangerous artificial intelligence (AI) machines. He said he hopes to "help secure humanity's future as a civilization relative to AI."
In 2018, Neuralink intended to conduct tests on animals. Media outlets reported seeing a demonstration of a computer receiving information from a rat in a Neuralink lab.
"All animal procedures were performed in accordance with the National Research Council's Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and were approved by the Neuralink Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee," said a report on the tests.
A BCI is a direct communication pathway between an enhanced or wired brain and an external device such as a computer or a weapon. It's also called a mind-machine interface (MMI) and a brain-machine interface (BMI).
In the clinical trials, doctors will drill holes into the brain with sewing-machine like to embed thin threads that connect to a tiny processor. This processor can be connected to a smartphone over Bluetooth. Neuralink will later make the installation process as simple as laser-eye surgery.
