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A Chinese company backed by the state, Beijing Xinzhida Neurotechnology, introduces its Neucyber brain interface tested with a monkey and a mechanical arm. View the full article

Neuralink has given us our first glimpse of its brain chip being used by a human, and the footage has convinced us the tech might be a much better idea than it first sounded. In a nine-minute six-second live stream shared via X (formerly Twitter), we see Noland Arbaugh – the first human to be implanted with the Neuralink chip, which happened back in January – playing a game of chess on his computer using his mind. According to Arbaugh, using the implant is like using the Force – he just stares at a point on the screen and the cursor moves where he wants. This allows him to drag digital chess pieces around on the Chess.com client, and he adds he’s enjoyed other titles like Civilization VI using the tech – which Arbaugh says he recently played for “eight hours straight.” The footage is nothing less than a technical marvel, though Arbaugh did admit that the tech isn’t yet perfect – they “have run into some issues” along the way, and his Civ VI binge was held back by needing to wait for the implant to charge. https://t.co/OMIeGGjYtGMarch 20, 2024 See more Next-gen accessibility tech Brain-computer interfaces aren’t new, but invasive options like actually having a chip implanted in one of our brains are still fairly fresh on the scene and did sound terrifying – especially a chip created by a company headed up by Elon Musk of all people. But seeing the clip Neuralink shared, it's immediately clear how beneficial its chip and other brain implants could be as a way to make the digital world accessible again for people with permanent paralysis like Arbaugh (who was left paralyzed below the shoulders after a diving accident). Obviously, there’s still a lot of development that needs to happen in the field. Neuralink is just a few months into its first six-year-long human trial, and beyond testing its continued safety, some of those kinks Arbaugh mentioned need to get worked out. Plus, we're still not convinced that brain implants will be the next smartphones, but if things continue to progress well in Neuralink's trials we wouldn't be surprised if they become a common accessibility tool for people with mobility struggles at some point in the future. You might also like Elon Musk's Neuralink empowers monkey to play Pong with its mindFord could soon take the fight to Tesla with an affordable electric SUVTesla's cheapest ever EV is coming – and it could be almost half the price of a Model 3 View the full article

Neuralink's first documented human patient uses the brain interface to control a PC, and explains how it works simultaneously in live testing footage. View the full article

The first human patient to receive a Neuralink implant has recovered well after the procedure, and is now able to ‘move the mouse around the screen just by thinking, says Elon Musk View the full article

Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain interface company, achieved a significant milestone this week, with Musk declaring on X (formerly Twitter), "The first human received an implant from yesterday and is recovering well." Driven by concerns that AI might soon outpace (or outthink) humans, Musk first proposed the idea of a brain-to-computer interface, then called Neural Lace, back in 2016. envisioning an implant that could overcome limitations inherent in human-to-computer interactions. Musk claimed that an interface that could read brain signals and deliver them directly to digital systems would massively outpace our typical keyboard and mouse interactions. Four years later, Musk demonstrated early clinical trials with an uncooperative pig, and in 2021 the company installed the device in a monkey that used the interface to control a game of Pong. It was, in a sense, all fun and games – until this week, and Musk's claim of a human trial and the introduction of some new branding. Neuralink's first product is now called 'Telepathy' which, according to another Musk tweet, "Enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking." As expected, these brain implants are not, at least for now, intended for everyone. Back in 2020, Musk explained that the intention is "to solve important spine and brain problems with a seamlessly implanted device.” Musk noted this week that "Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs. Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal." What is Neuralink Telepathy? Neural link devices like Telepathy are bio-safe implants comprising small disk-like devices (roughly the thickness of four coins stuck together) with ultra-fine wires trailing out of them that connect to various parts of the brain. The filaments read neural spikes, and a computer interface interprets them to understand the subject's intentions and translate them into action on, say, a phone, or a desktop computer. In this first trial, Musk noted that "Initial results show promising neuron spike detection," but he didn't elaborate on whether the patient was able to control anything with his mind. Musk didn't describe the surgical implantation process. Back in 2020, though, Neuralink introduced its Link surgery robot, which it promised would implant the Neuralink devices with minimal pain, blood, and, we're guessing, trauma. Considering that the implant is under the skin and skull, and sits on the brain, we're not sure how that's possible. It's also unclear if Neuralink used Link to install 'Telepathy.' The new branding is not that far-fetched. While most people think of telepathy as people transmitting thoughts to one another, the definition is "the communication of thoughts or ideas by means other than the known senses." A phone in your head Still, Musk has a habit of using hyperbole when describing Neuralink. During one early demonstration, he only half-jokingly said "It’s sort of like if your phone went in your brain.” He also later added that, "In the future, you will be able to save and replay memories." With the first Neuralink Telepathy device successfully installed, however, Musk appears to be somewhat more circumspect. There was no press conference, or parading of the patient before the reporters. All we have are these few tweets, and scant details about a brain implant that Musk hopes will help humans stay ahead of rapidly advancing AIs. It's worth noting that for all of Musk's bluster and sometimes objectionable rhetoric, he was more right than he knew about where the state of AI would be by 2024. Back in 2016, there was no ChatGPT, Google Bard, or Microsoft CoPilot. We didn't have AI in Windows and Photoshop's Firefly, realistic AI images and videos, or realistic AI deepfakes. Concerns about AIs taking jobs are now real, and the idea of humans falling behind artificial intelligence sounds less like a sci-fi fantasy and more like our future. Do those fears mean we're now more likely to sign up for our brain implants? Musk is betting on it. You might also like What is AI? Everything you need to know about Artificial Intelligence ...Best AI toolsGoogle's impressive Lumiere shows us the future of making short ...My jaw hit the floor when I watched an AI master one of the world's ...Google Bard AI's addition to Messages could change the way we ... View the full article

The University of Technology Sydney demonstrated an AI system that translates brainwaves to text using removable headgear with sensors, showing a potential widespread use of this technology in multiple fields View the full article

The fundamental principle of neuroscience is the integration of anatomy, molecular biology, cell biology, psychology, and mathematical modeling to explain the action and workings of neurons and neural circuits. A study to explain the conduct of consciousness is called neuroscience. Neuroscience has grown greatly from the study of neurons to the medical imaging of sensory functions within the brain... View the full article