Elon Musk says third person gets Neuralink brain implant

Elon Musk said a third person received an implant from his brain-computer interface company Neuralink, one of several groups working to connect the nervous system to machines.

“We have…three humans with Neuralinks and all of them are working well,” he said in a wide-ranging interview at a Las Vegas event broadcast on his X social media platform.

Since the first brain implant about a year ago, Musk said the company has improved the devices with more electrodes, higher bandwidth and longer battery life. Musk also said Neuralink hopes to implant the experimental devices in 20 to 30 additional people this year.

Musk did not provide any details on the latest patient, but there are updates on previous ones.

The second recipient – ​​who suffers from a spinal cord injury and received the implant last summer – was playing video games using the device and learning how to use computer-aided design software to create 3D objects. The first patient, also paralyzed from a spinal cord injury, described how it helped him play video games and chess.

But while such developments at Neuralink often attract attention, many other companies and research groups are working on similar projects. Last year, two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine described how brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, helped people with ALS communicate better.

Who works on brain-computer interface technology?

More than 45 trials involving brain-computer interfaces are underway, according to a US research database. Efforts are aimed at helping treat brain disorders, overcoming brain damage, and other uses.

Many research labs have already shown that humans can precisely control computer cursors using BCIs, said Rajesh Rao, co-director of the University of Washington Center for Neurotechnology.

Rao said Neuralink could be unique in two ways: The surgery to implant the device is the first time a robot has been used to implant flexible electrode wires into a human brain to record activity. neural and control devices. And these threads can record from more neurons than other interfaces.

However, he added, the benefits of Neuralink’s approach have not yet been demonstrated and some competitors have eclipsed the company in other ways. For example, Rao said companies such as Synchron, Blackrock Neurotech and Onward Medical were already conducting BCI trials on people “using either less invasive methods or more versatile approaches” combining neural recording and stimulation.

What are the advantages of BCIs?

Marco Baptista, chief scientific officer of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, called BCI technology “very exciting” and has potential benefits for paralyzed people.

Through clinical trials, “we will be able to see what the winning approach will be,” he said. “It’s a little early to know.”

Baptista said her foundation usually tries to support research teams financially and with help from experts – although it has not given any money to Neuralink.

“We really need to support high-risk, high-reward projects. It’s clearly high risk, high reward. We don’t know how safe it will be. We don’t know how feasible this will be,” he said.

How are BCIs tested and regulated?

Neuralink announced in 2023 that it had obtained authorization from US regulators to begin testing its device on people.

While most medical devices come to market without clinical studies, high-risk ones that receive pre-market approval need what is known as an “investigational device exemption.” of the Food and Drug Administration, said Dr. Rita Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies high-risk devices.

Neuralink claims to qualify for this exemption, but the FDA said it cannot confirm or release information about any particular study.

Redberg said the FDA tends to be involved in everything from patient recruitment to device testing to data analysis. She said this regulatory process prioritizes safety.

She also pointed out another level of protection: Any research involving people needs an institutional review board, or IRB. It may also be known as an ethical review board or independent ethics committee. Members must include at least one non-scientist as well as one person not affiliated with the institution or organization forming the board of directors.

The role of these committees “is to assume that there is a reasonable risk and a reasonable chance of benefit and that patients are informed of this before they enroll,” Redberg said.