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Representatives of Neuralink, a start-up created by Elon Musk, on Friday introduced a pig named Gertrude, who has had a coin the size of a coin implanted in his brain for two months.
The pig is seen as a first step towards achieving the goal of this program, which aims to cure human diseases with the same type of implant, Reuters reports.
Founded in 2016 by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, a San Francisco-based company, Neuralink, wants to manufacture implants with wireless brain-computer interfaces in the most complex organ of the human body to help cure neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, and spinal cord injuries. spinal cord and, in the final stage, connecting the human body to artificial intelligence (AI).
“An implantable device can solve these problems”, Elon Musk said in an online broadcast on Friday, citing various conditions including memory loss, hearing impairment, depression and insomnia.
Elon Musk did not provide a timetable for these treatments, giving the impression that he had taken a step back from his previous statements, when he claimed that human testing could begin later this year.
The first step is to treat paralysis or paraplegia.
The first clinical trials organized by Neuralink in a small group of human patients would aim to treat paralysis or paraplegia, said the coordinator of the department of surgery within this company, Dr. Matthew MacDougall.
Several neural science experts, unaffiliated with Neuralink, said Friday’s presentation indicated that the startup had made significant progress, but warned of the need for more studies.
Three pigs received implants
Elon Musk said Friday’s performance was “a demonstration of the three piglets”. Gertrude, a sow with a Neuralink chip implanted in the part of her brain that controls the functions of her nose, needed some cues from Elon Musk to appear in front of the cameras, but she eventually started eating. sit in a chair and smell a bundle of straw, triggering the appearance of sinusoidal curves in a graph that monitors the neural activity of the animal.
Elon Musk said Neuralink has three pigs in its labs that have two implants each, revealing that the company’s experts implanted a single chip in another pig. All these animals are “healthy, happy and impossible to distinguish from a common pig”, said the South African businessman. He also said that Neuralink specialists predicted “with great precision” the movements of the legs of a pig sitting on a treadmill, using the data transmitted by said implant.
The chip created by Neuralink has a diameter of 23 millimeters.
However, some scientists believe that more studies are needed to determine how long the device will work.
The chip developed by Neuralink could also help researchers better understand neurological diseases by “reading” brain waves, explained one of the experts from the US company in Friday’s presentation.
Friday’s event was one of recruitment
Elon Musk said the goal Friday was to recruit, not fundraise. The South African entrepreneur has already gained extensive experience in bringing together experts from a variety of fields to significantly accelerate the development of innovations previously limited to academic labs, including space rockets, Hyperloop trains and electric cars. through companies like Tesla and SpaceX.
Neuralink has received $ 158 million in funding, including $ 100 million from Elon Musk, and has about 100 employees.
Elon Musk, who regularly warns of the risks posed by artificial intelligence, believes that the implantable chip’s greatest achievement, beyond its medical applications, would be “a certain symbiosis with AI, as a result of which humans will have an AI extension of themselves. “
For decades, small devices that electronically stimulate nerves and areas of the brain have been implanted in the body of human patients to treat hearing impairment and Parkinson’s disease. Brain implants have also been tested in small groups of people who have lost control of their motor function due to spinal cord injuries or neurological diseases such as strokes.
Other companies such as Kernel, Paradromics and NeuroPace are also trying to advance revolutionary materials, wireless devices and sensory signaling technologies to create devices similar to the one developed by Neuralink. In addition, medical device giant Medtronic PLC is already producing brain implants to treat Parkinson’s disease, tremor and epilepsy.
Pigs need a surgical implant, humans just need a TV
“Elon Musk shows his AI-powered brain implant in live pigs” https://t.co/eW7xD0Ko7u– Wolfie Smith (@ WolfieSmith5) August 29, 2020
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