Between the authorization granted by the American authorities and the installation of a brain implant, it only took six months for Elon Musk and Neuralink to take the step of experimenting on humans. The boss of X, Tesla and Space X definitely wants to move quickly.

And now the man! On January 29, 2024, during a highly anticipated conference, Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, among others, unveiled a new crucial step in the development of Neuralink, its neurotechnology company. After satisfactory tests on monkeys and pigs, the American laboratory has managed to implant its first communicating chip in a human.

Founded in 2016 in San Francisco, California, Neuralink has an ambitious goal of merging artificial intelligence with the human brain to improve cognitive abilities and treat various neurological disorders.. Just seven years after its creation, on July 31, 2023, its founder announced the successful placement of a brain implant in animals. At rocket speed, Elon Musk then obtained the green light from the administration to move on to clinical trials in humans, and at the same time raised $385 million to finance them.

Enable two-way brain-machine communication

Known for his eagerness to bring his projects to fruition, just six months after the authorization issued by the American authorities, on January 29, 2024, Elon Musk announced this time, on the platform X, the successful placement of a first brain implant in a human being by Neuralink. He then assures that the patient is doing well, and that the first tests of interactive connectivity are "promising".

The implant, called Neuralink Neural Lace, measures just 23 millimeters in diameter and 8 millimeters thick.

Placed under the skin, it is designed to record neuronal activity, “to control your phone and your computer, and through them, just about any device, just by thinking.”

Elon Musk

Performance made possible by 1,024 electrodes distributed over 64 wires thinner than a hair that make up the implant. This electronic chip also enables high-bandwidth two-way communication between the brain and electronic devices incorporating artificial intelligence.

Virtuous applications, or not.

Thus begins to materialize another of Musk's futuristic visions, that of a symbiosis between human beings and machines to enable, in particular, the repair of man: loss of language, sight, motor skills... In short, the starting point of the technologically augmented man.

The American army has already seized on the potential of these brain implants. which could allow him, in a more or less distant future, to "download" skills into the brains of soldiers to increase their skills and effectiveness in the field. Already seen in the film Matrix...

In the long term, Musk assures that he wants to fight against… the risks of AI

The implications of this breakthrough are vast. On the Neuralink website, it all says on the home page of the goals of the company founded by Musk:

“Our goal: to create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those whose medical needs are not met today and unleash the human potential of tomorrow.”

Neuralink

In addition to treating neurological diseases, Neuralink opens the door to unprecedented possibilities for cognitive enhancement. Potential applications discussed by the San Francisco company include accelerating learning, improving memory and even increasing intellectual abilities.

Beyond medical applications, Elon Musk also aims to make his future implant available to everyone in order to allow everyone to communicate better with computers and to contain, according to him, the "risk for our civilization" what artificial intelligence weighs. A surprising statement from someone who wants to compete with ChatGPT with his conversational AI Grok, unveiled in November 2023.

Investigation in progress, risks of manipulation and cognitive inequalities

However, despite the hopes raised, cautious voices from experts, researchers and philosophers quickly emerged following the announcement of January 31, 2024. Some warn against the risks of manipulation of thought and privacy. Others point to the potential dangers of"a society where only individuals equipped with implants would have a cognitive advantage, thus creating significant societal inequalities."

At the same time, Reuters revealed in December 2023 that the Inspector General of the Ministry of Agriculture had opened an investigation against Neuralink for violation of the Animal Protection Act. Neurolink employees reportedly complained about excessive exploitation of animals during implant trials. Between 2018 and 2022, 1,500 pigs, monkeys and other animals were sacrificed on the altar of augmented humans, according to Reuters.

An essential reflection

The step announced by Elon Musk arouses, just like the arrival of ChatGPT and AI in our daily lives, both hopes and fears. These hopes for healing, increased productivity and cognitive enhancements thus already appear as the new societal, philosophical and ethical challenges that will need to be addressed quickly in order to ensure that these disruptive innovations best serve humanity as a whole.

TO UNDERSTAND

Brain implants, already 25 years of research worldwide

The idea of implanting brain chips or sensors to improve cognitive or mechanical functions in humans and make them, as some say, an "augmented human", does not date back to the creation of Neuralink. Here are some key dates for the record:

80s: Start of experiments on brain implants in animals by neuroscience researchers, particularly in France and the United States.

90s: First human attempts to treat neurological disorders, carried out by specialist surgeons in various countries, including France.

2000s: Advances in implant miniaturization and brain-machine interface by electronic engineers and neuroscientists, with contributions from French and other researchers.

2010s: Emergence of neuroprosthetics to restore sensory functions, developed by multidisciplinary teams of researchers and engineers, including collaborations with French institutions. 2019 : Edward Chang's team from the University of California presents the results of a study following the placement of an implant on the cortical matter of a patient unable to speak since a stroke. The brain-machine interface created was able to reproduce thought at a rate of 75 words per minute, with only 25% errors. 2019 Again, in France, researchers from the Grenoble Clinatec institute are presenting an implant which, once fitted, allows a quadriplegic person to operate an exoskeleton and move their arms or move around.

2020s: March 2022, neurosurgery researchers at Stanford University in the United States have fitted a brain implant to a patient suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease who is unable to speak, which allows speech to be reproduced synthetically using a brain-machine interface based on algorithms, at a rate of 65 words/minute**.**

January 2024 : Announcement of the installation of the first brain implant in humans by Neuralink, a company founded by Elon Musk and a team of neurotechnology researchers, mainly based in the United States, but with international collaborations, some of which involve French researchers.