Neuralink has successfully implanted a brain chip in a second patient, Elon Musk said in a newly published interview. The company aims to treat neurological disorders or enhance natural senses like vision.
The ambitious company is not only aimed at curing diseases, but Musk believes it will also be the best way for humans to integrate and compete with advanced artificial intelligence systems in the future. The company wants to give humans superpowers, he said in a recent podcast interview with Lex Fridman.
In early 2024, Neuralink implanted the chip in its first human patient. After a recovery that took several weeks, the patient was able to control a computer mouse using only his thoughts. During the interview, Musk said the company has since implanted the chip in a second patient who has the same spinal cord injury as the first patient. The patient was paralyzed due to a diving accident. Musk said the implant’s 400 electrodes were working in the second patient’s brain. He also said that, so far, everything is going very well. Neuralink expects to implant the chip in eight more patients in its clinical trials this year.
Musk described Neuralink as a technology that could enable a “symbiosis” between humans and artificial intelligence in the future. In a conversation with Fridman, he said the company’s chips could be the best way to prevent AI from outperforming humans and going awry, Terminator-style. “This idea could help keep AI safe,” he said. Musk added that it would be possible to better align the collective human will with AI if, above all, productivity were to increase dramatically. He believes there is potential for significantly higher productivity, which would be better than the current situation.
According to the plan, Neuralink’s devices will eventually be able to repair damaged neurons. They will be able to help people with problems like blindness and paralysis, perhaps even help cure schizophrenia, where people have seizures, and memory problems, Musk said. He added that Neuralink’s goal is not only to give people with neurological damage full-spectrum communication but also to enhance their natural abilities. Musk suggested that a person using Neuralink could eventually have higher-resolution vision than human eyes. Musk noted that solving problems like neuronal damage is the first “small step” toward Neuralink being able to do more complex tasks, such as interacting with artificial intelligence systems.
