By: Nick Gambino
As we reported a few weeks ago, Neuralink implanted an electronic device in a live human brain for the first time. The tiny device, called Telepathy, connects the user’s brain and its signals wirelessly to their devices.
There aren’t a lot of details about the maiden voyage surgery, but based on some earlier information, we’re pretty sure the patient is a quadriplegic. Other than that the surgery was successful, we have had no other updates. Until now. Elon Musk, owner of Neuralink, has let us in on what kind of progress is being made.
“Progress is good, [the] patient seems to have made a full recovery with no ill effects that we are aware of and is able to control the mouse, move the mouse around the screen just by thinking,” Musk said in his Spaces session on X (formerly Twitter) which he also owns.
Through a series of 64 threads wired out of the Telepathy device and connected to the brain, the Neuralink implant taps into the part of you that intends to do something. The plan is to start with recognizing the signals that one would use to move a button and select something. This can also be translated into scrolling and tapping.
Telepathy receives and processes these signals and wirelessly executes the command on the device. This would allow quadriplegics and other movement disabled people to more easily engage with an increasingly tech-driven world. The fact that Patient Zero is able to move a mouse cursor using only their mind is a good indicator this just might work.
“There are still many hurdles to overcome to bring Neuralink’s Telepathy to market,” Andrew Tropeano, Host of News Around America (www.newsaroundamerica.com), said. “This surgery is only the first in a long line of test cases that will be conducted and monitored to ensure there are no long-term bad effects.”
Musk is usually pretty forthcoming on updates, especially when he’s fielding questions on X. So we’ll probably hear more about Neuralink’s first human subject in the coming weeks or months.
