As usual, Elon Musk gave the note: he announced, just through a post on a former social network Twitter (today X) that on January 29, one of his companies, Neuralinkimplemented for the first time a “brain reading” chip in a person. The purpose of the implant? Control devices such as computers, cell phones, wheelchairs, robotic arms, using only thought.
To this type of chips that act as brain-computer interfaces They are technically known by the acronym BCI and eliminate the need for a physical connection between devices and their users. In addition to the prototype that according to Musk is already working in the brain of a human being, there are others in development and testing.
Elon posted on
The researchers of neurotechnology They are cautiously enthusiastic about the trial. “What I hope to see is that they can prove that it is safe. And that it is effective in measuring brain signals, in the short term, but, most importantly, in the long term,” he summarized to the Nature magazine Mariska Vansteensel, a neuroscientist at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, and president of the BCI International Society.
But the reality is that there is no detailed and concrete data regarding the work of Neuralink. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the company permission to carry out clinical trials in humans in May 2023. Last September, the company announced that it would open registration in its first study to quadriplegic people. But there is not much more information about it. Details are missing such as where the implants will be performed and the exact results the trial will evaluate. This is even without mentioning the ethical principles that all medical studies on human beings must follow.
How does the system work
Neuralink’s BCI seeks act on the activity of individual neuronswhich it involves place electrodes inside the brain. Other companies are developing electrodes that are placed on the surface of the brain (making them relatively easy to remove) to record averaged signals produced by populations of neurons. Recent research indicates that averaged signals can enable the decoding of complex cognitive processes, such as inner speech.
The Neuralink system is implemented in its entirety (like that of another firm, Synchron), and it is wireless, which avoids the need for a physical connection between a computer, for example, and the skull. Each device contains a chip and electrode assemblies. More than 1,000 super-thin, flexible conductors that a surgical robot enters the cerebral cortex. There, the electrodes are designed to record thoughts related to movement.
In Musk’s vision, an app will eventually translate these signals to move a cursor or produce text. “Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a typist or an auctioneer. That is the goal,” Musk wrote about the implantable chip in the brain, which he named Telepathy.
For specialists, the most important thing to know is that the device is safe. That is, it does not cause hemorrhages, vascular damage, or strokes.
Suspicions
Neuralink was founded in 2016, very recently. And Elon is known (and was even denounced by his employees) for putting extreme pressure so that the developments that their companies are trying to achieve are fast, very fast. But this, especially in aspects related to health, can be risky.
Last month, Neuralink was fined for violating US Department of Transportation regulations (DOT) regarding the movement of hazardous materials, according to federal agency records. During inspections of the company’s facilities in Texas and California in February 2023, DOT investigators found that the company had not registered as a transporter of hazardous materials, the news agency reported. Reuters.
DOT inspectors also found inadequate packaging of hazardous wasteincluding xylene, a flammable liquid that can cause headaches, dizziness, confusion, loss of muscle coordination and even death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
animal abuse
Research on Neuralink began from internal complaints from company employeesreferring to experiments on animals that caused unnecessary suffering and death. The plight above all, about living beings that have the right to be protected.
The year was 2022 and Elon Musk’s health device company was under federal investigation for possible violations of the Animal Welfare Lawwhich governs how researchers treat some animals in tests and clinical trials.
“The investigation came at a time of growing employee disagreement over Neuralink’s animal testing, including complaints that Musk’s pressure to speed up development has resulted in failed experiments,” according to a Reuters review, which He took both internal company documents and testimonies from more than twenty people who had worked or were still working at Musk’s company. Those failed tests were repeated over and over again, with which The number of animals sacrificed was accumulating month by month.
“Total, the company killed around 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, following experiments since 2018 according to records reviewed by Reuters and sources with direct knowledge of the company’s animal testing operations. But That figure is only approximate.because the complaint from the former employees, and from what journalists deduced from reading emails and internal communications, indicates that in Neuralink does not keep accurate records of the number of animals tested. Even less of those who are sacrificed.
The total number of animal deaths does not necessarily indicate that Neuralink is violating regulations or standard research practices. But experts consider that the number of deaths is higher than necessary.
Elon’s rivals
Synchron It is also a company founded in 2016 that received the FDA approval to conduct clinical trials in humans in 2021. In 2022 the company implemented a synchronous brain-computer interface in the first six patients, with the goal that these people with severe paralysis could perform daily functions, such as communicating online, hands-free.
According to Synchron specialists, the main objective of their study is assess if the device It can be safely implanted in the blood vessels of the brain. Using a minimally invasive endovascular procedure, the brain-computer interface is placed in the blood vessel on the surface of the brain’s motor cortex through the jugular vein. Once implanted, it is designed to detect and transmit motor intent outside the brain, wirelessly, to allow patients to control personal devices without using their hands.
The trial was supported by the BRAIN Initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is conducted at three medical and research centers: the Mount Sinai Health System in New York, the neurosurgery unit at the University at Buffalo, and the University of Buffalo Medical Center. from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in collaboration with the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.
A first part of the study, on four patients, was published in the specialized journal JAMA Neurology. All very far from the typical darkness with which companies led by Elon Musk work.
