Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Monday that his brain-science startup company, Neuralink, had implanted a device in a human for the first time, a possible step toward a product that he said would allow people to control almost any external device “just by thinking.”
Musk made the announcement on X. He said the patient, whom he did not identify, “received an implant” Sunday and “is recovering well.” The initial results, he added, showed “promising neuron spike detection.” He gave no other details about the procedure, the patient or the device the company implanted.
Scientists for decades have worked on similar ideas for brain-computer interfaces that, if successful, could one day assist people who are physically disabled, change how people communicate or more.
There was no immediate independent confirmation of Neuralink’s progress. One of Neuralink’s competitors, Precision Neuroscience, implanted its device in a human for the first time last year.
Musk’s announcement comes eight months after Neuralink said it had received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct its first in-human clinical study. In September, Neuralink said it would begin recruiting patients for the study.
Neuralink, which is based in San Francisco, did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
The FDA, which regulates medical devices and would need to approve any consumer product, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk’s announcement.
Neuralink has said it was building a brain implant called the Link to help patients, including those with severe paralysis, use external technologies. Musk said Monday that Neuralink’s first product would be called Telepathy. He did not say whether it was a new device or a new name for the previously announced device.
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