A Neuralink patient is now able to move a mouse by just thinking about it, but is TikTok scrolling possible?،
Progress has been made – but whether this is a bright future or a dark dystopia remains to be seen. Neuralink's first human patient is now able to move a mouse by thinking about it, a Reuters the report reads.
Last month, Neuralink implanted a chip in a human's brain, after receiving approval for human trial recruitment in fall 2023.
In 2022, the Neuralink project entered its human testing phase. Prior to this, Neuralink had conducted tests on primates, killing 15 of the 23 monkeys tested.
Today, patient zero with a brain chip appears to have made a full recovery. That's great, but it's remarkable that the patient is able to control a computer mouse using his thoughts, said startup founder Elon Musk.
“Progress is good and the patient appears to have made a full recovery, with some neural effects that we are aware of. The patient is able to move a mouse across the screen just by thinking,” Musk said during a Spaces event on social media platform X.
Musk said Neuralink is now trying to get as many mouse clicks from the patient as possible.
How is it made?
“In many ways, it's like a Fitbit in your skull, with tiny wires,” Musk said of the Neuralink device during the 2021 livestream event. The technology uses up to 1,024 5-micron diameter wires “sewn” into a patient's gray matter to make connections with neighboring neurons, providing high-resolution sampling of the brain's electrical emissions and translating between analog electrical impulses and digital computer code .
As the report says, the study uses a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move. The initial goal is to allow people to control a computer's cursor or keyboard using their thoughts.
This is great, can you do this to scroll TikTok?
Musk has big ambitions for Neuralink, saying it would make it easier to quickly surgically insert his chips to treat diseases such as obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia.
