Neuralink is six months away from the first human trial: Elon Musk

At a show-and-tell event on Wednesday, Elon Musk said his brain-computer interface company, Neuralink, could implant one of his devices in someone's head within the next six months, meaning it won't happen this year. He also claimed that the device would be implanted in his head at some point in the future.

During the presentation, Musk said the company had submitted most of the documentation needed for a human clinical trial to the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates medical devices in the United States. Previously, Musk had said that he expected human trials to start in 2020 and then in 2022. Now, that has been reduced to at least 2023.

Neuralink aims to create a device implanted in the brain to control a computer with brain activity. In 2019, Musk revealed that the company was testing its device on monkeys. In 2020, he brought out pigs with the implants. And last year, Neuralink released a video showing a monkey playing Pong with his brain. This year, the monkeys are back. In a video demonstration, one helped "type" the phrase "welcome to show and tell" using his implant by focusing on the highlighted words and letters. Another video showed how the monkeys were trained to charge the devices by sitting under a wireless charger.

Later in the presentation, the Neuralink researchers also showed a pig on a treadmill, which they said was helping them study how to address mobility problems in people in the future. The Neuralink devices are small, with multiple flexible "wires" that can be inserted into the brain. "It's like replacing a piece of your skull with a smartwatch, for lack of a better analogy," Musk said.

In about 15 minutes, 64 of these "threads" can be implanted into the brain using a robotic system, DJ Seo, vice president of Implant and co-founder of Neuralink, said during the presentation, using a dummy to show how the process could work function.

The reason for robotic surgeons comes down to how small those threads are. "Imagine taking a hair from your head and sticking it into jello covered by saran wrap, doing that to a precise depth and precision, and doing that 64 times in a reasonable amount of time," said Christine Odabashian, Neuralink hardware embedding lead equipment.

The company's 2019 and 2020 demos were designed as recruiting events, and this one is no different; the company admitted that recruiting was its main focus for the night. Neuralink is currently looking to fill many jobs as it moves from "prototype to product," Musk said on tonight's show and tell.

The event was mainly a technical presentation of the device, showing how the system was built, the challenges the team faced, how the technology has improved so far, and what developments will come next. Neuralink said they were developing treatments to help improve or restore vision or restore movement in people with paralysis. Regarding technology, the company has the ambition to make sure that the device can be easily upgraded.

"I'm pretty sure you would not want an iPhone 1 in your head if an iPhone 14 was available," Musk said.