Doctors concerned about Neuralink's first patient [View all]

Source: Futurism

FEB 24, 9:00 AM EST / BY FRANK LANDYMORE

DOCTORS CONCERNED ABOUT NEURALINK'S FIRST PATIENT

Neuralink founder Elon Musk claimed this week that the first human to receive one of his company's heavily scrutinized brain implants was already able to control a mouse cursor with their mind.

The only problem? Since then, Neuralink hasn't shared any evidence supporting that claim — and medical researchers are starting to call its bluff.

As shared in a new writeup for Nature, not only is this is hardly a new innovation, but we're not getting enough information from Neuralink to verify its claims, or more distressingly, to assess the safety of its practices.

"[Neuralink is] only sharing the bits that they want us to know about," Sameer Sheth, a neurosurgeon who specializes in implanted neurotechnology at the Baylor College of Medicine, told Nature. "There's a lot of concern in the community about that."

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Read more: https://futurism.com/neoscope/doctors-concerned-neuralink-patient

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Source: Nature

23 February 2024

Neuralink brain chip: advance sparks safety and secrecy concerns

Elon Musk announced this week that his company’s brain implant has allowed a person to move a computer mouse with their mind.

By Liam Drew

The first person to receive a brain-monitoring device from neurotechnology company Neuralink can control a computer cursor with their mind, Elon Musk, the firm’s founder, revealed this week. But researchers say that this is not a major feat — and they are concerned about the secrecy around the device’s safety and performance.

The company is “only sharing the bits that they want us to know about”, says Sameer Sheth, a neurosurgeon specializing in implanted neurotechnology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. “There’s a lot of concern in the community about that.”

Threads for thoughts

Musk announced on 29 January that Neuralink had implanted a brain–computer interface (BCI) into a human for the first time. Neuralink, which is headquartered in Fremont, California, is the third company to start long-term trials in humans.

Some implanted BCIs sit on the brain’s surface and record the average firing of populations of neurons, but Neuralink’s device, and at least two others, penetrates the brain to record the activity of individual neurons. Neuralink’s BCI contains 1,024 electrodes — many more than previous systems — arranged on innovative pliable threads.

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Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00550-6