What is Neuralink?

The term "Neuralink" has been out of mainstream discussion for several years now and is a subject of much debate. This computing company from Elon Musk seems to have potential, but how does Neuralink work and is the brain implant technology safe to use?

What is Neuralink?

Neuralink is a BCI (Brain Computer Interface) that can be implanted using a surgical robot (shown in the image above). Once the Neuralink device is implanted in a patient's brain, it can communicate with an external computer. In short, it allows your brain to connect with technology.

While there is much discussion surrounding the possibility of using Neuralink, the company's current focus is on helping people with paraplegia lead easier and more normal lives. This will be done by allowing patients to control devices, such as smartphones and computer mice, using only their brains.

Who founded Neuralink?

Neuralink was founded in July 2016 by Elon Musk and Max Hodak.

You may know billionaire Elon Musk and his various successful businesses, such as electric car maker Tesla, space exploration company SpaceX, and high-speed Internet provider Starlink. But Max Hodak is a much lesser known name. Hodak is an American businessman who founded Transcriptic and myFit. Hodak is interested in biotechnology, so it was no surprise when he teamed up with Musk in 2016 to found Neuralink. Several other individuals also collaborated with Musk and Hodak to create Neuralink, including Tim Hansen, Venessa Talosa, and Ben Rapaport.

However, the name "Neuralink" was trademarked, so Musk and Hodak had to buy the rights from the previous owners to give the company its now famous name.

How does a computer implanted in the brain work?

Brain implants (not to be confused with BCIs) are very sophisticated pieces of technology. These tiny devices, usually no larger than a coin, can trigger, block and record nerve stimulations.

To install a brain implant like Neuralink, a small portion of the skull must be removed by a surgical robot, then replaced with the implant. Furthermore, the wire extends from the implant through the brain. Although it is easier to keep the Neuralink device outside the skull, the signals sent by the brain cannot be picked up at such a distance. This is why implant surgery is needed.

Neuralink uses tiny electrodes to detect, record and send electrical pulses. These electrodes are located in wires extending from the Neuralink chip itself. Each wire contains more than a thousand electrodes, showing how complex these brain implants are. The electrodes on these wires act as sensors that can receive and send electrical signals.

The recorded electrical signals are sent to an external device, which then processes them to generate commands. Through this process, devices can be controlled using Neuralink implants.

Depending on the desired use, these implants may also come with temperature and pressure sensors. For example, Neuralink implants have such capabilities.

The ability of such implants to assist the brain in normal functioning and allow the brain to control external objects to which it may be connected. Imagine turning on the TV or controlling the air conditioner with a brain chip! It's definitely a new level of convenience!

While these ideas are exciting, currently brain implant technology is primarily concerned with aiding diseases, injuries, and genetic conditions. As mentioned previously, Neuralink's current focus is on helping people with paralysis.

Patients with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders can also benefit from Neuralink implants. Neuralink also helps blind or deaf people restore lost senses if these senses are gone due to nerve damage.

Although Neuralink is the best-known neurotechnology company, many organizations, such as BrainCo, Kernel, and NeuroSky, are working to achieve similar goals. But regardless of who makes these implants, it's important that they are safe for humans. So how safe are brain-implanted computers like Neuralink?

Is Neuralink safe?

There is a lot of fear surrounding future technology. Anxiety around AI, automation and brain implants is widespread and many opinions about how digital brain implants might go wrong have been expressed. Some worry about the implant causing mental illness, while others even think mind control is possible. But are Neuralink (and brain implants like it) a danger to humans?

Currently, it's hard to know how safe brain-implanted computers like Neuralink are. Neuralink has been tested on many animals, such as pigs, mice and monkeys (one of which allows monkeys to play ping pong with their minds).

A specific experiment on pigs shows that the Neuralink implant can be safely removed if needed, which means humans may not need to commit to their implants for life .

But Neuralink has yet to be tested on humans, so we really don't know how the more complex human mind will react. In mid-2023, Neuralink announced that it had received FDA approval to conduct its first human clinical study. So we may soon see the effects of Neuralink on the human brain.

However, attempts to test Neuralink's implants on humans have been rejected by the FDA in the past. A Reuters article published in March 2023 states that several current and former Neuralink employees said an application was denied by the FDA in 2022. The Neuralink implant's lithium battery is only was one of the FDA's concerns at the time Neuralink was rejected.

Even with FDA approval in 2023, there are still many risk factors at play here. Sterile and precise implantation, implant deterioration over time, and the patient's post-treatment care are all things that must be carefully considered here. The reliability of implantable surgical robots will also need to be carefully determined before use in humans.

But even after the first few clinical trials that Neuralink conducted on humans, there was still no way to know the long-term effects of the brain-implanted computer. It will certainly take some time before we get an answer to this particular question.

Lesley Montoya

Update 14 June 2024