Neuralink was founded by Elon Musk with the goal of restoring autonomy in those who may suffer from quadriplegia or other physical ailments that may restrict those from basic human functions. The company’s mission is to “Create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow.” Since their founding in 2016, they have made major leaps in this mission from testing on animals to starting the first human trials in September of 2024.
Investigations
In December of 2022 Neuralink went under investigation by the US Department of Agriculture due to potential violations of the American Animal Welfare Act. It was stated that the company had killed over 1,500+ animals between 2018 to the end of 2022. Early reports began in 2017 from the University of California Davis where the head of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), Ryan Merkley, stated that surgeons were using non-approved adhesive to fill gaps in the animals’ skulls that were due to the implants. Merkley also told Vox that the animals are suffering from “instances of animals suffering from chronic infections, like staph infections where the implant was in their head. There were animals pulling out their hair and self-mutilating, which are signs of really poor psychological health in laboratory animals and are very common in rhesus macaques.”
Progress
Despite these investigations, Neuralink has continued to push forward and inserted the first chip into a human test subject in January of 2024. After about a month, Musk stated in a Spaces event on the social media platform X, “Progress is good, and the patient seems to have made a full recovery, with no ill effects that we are aware of. Patient is able to move a mouse around the screen by just thinking.” Following this, a second patient obtained the implant in July of 2024.
Within minutes of the implant, the patients were able to connect to a computer and control the cursors with their mind. Within hours the second patient was able to “surpass the maximum speed and accuracy he’d achieved with any other assistive technology on our Webgrid task,” as stated on the Neuralink PRIME Study progress updates.
Although the limitations are set very high as of right now, this is a major leap forward in bringing autonomy to those who suffer from physical ailments and it could be the first step into bringing us into a “Cyberpunk 2077” way of life.
Article was proofread using Chat GPT v4.0
Sources:
https://neuralink.com/blog/prime-study-progress-update-second-participant/
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/12/11/23500157/neuralink-animal-testing-elon-musk-usda-probe