Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain-machine interface startup, just pulled off an amazing $650 million raise. This capital will allow them to make progress towards their audacious longer-term vision of developing BCIs. This funding will support the next phase in the development of Telepathy – an innovative new BCI system that has already demonstrated remarkable potential. Its mission is to bridge human thought and digital technology.
Neuralink’s Telepathy system has a sleek design just like any other art deco electronic device. It boasts 64 ultra-thin threads, each one smaller than a human hair, which are directly implanted in the brain. Each of these threads is outfitted with 1,024 electrodes, which the team has learned to use to precisely record neural signals. The company’s long-term vision is to help users interact with both digital and real-world devices just by thinking about them.
In fact, Neuralink just recently celebrated a significant victory when it received a “Breakthrough Device” designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This award was received for their groundbreaking device which they call Blindsight. This groundbreaking technology aims to restore vision for individuals who have lost both eyes and their optic nerves, showcasing Neuralink’s potential impact on medical science and quality of life.
Neuralink is currently known to have implanted its technology in five patients. These new generations have taken on the world and are now able to manipulate digital and physical environments simply through thought. A notable example includes a patient who played chess using signals generated by their brain implant, providing a tangible demonstration of the technology’s capabilities.
As you can see, the BCI landscape is starting to heat up. Other companies—especially Paradromics, Synchron, and Precision Neuroscience—are working hard on their own brain-computer interface technologies. Just last month, Paradromics achieved their very first human brain-computer interface (BCI) implantation. This groundbreaking innovation illustrates the powerful and rapid progress occurring in this new and exciting area.
Elon Musk has repeatedly touted Neuralink’s potential to restore vision in blind patients. This further solidifies the company’s role as a leading voice in advancing innovations that expand what humans can do through technology. Neuralink is currently making progress with its research and development endeavors. We look forward to seeing how these advances will continue to better the lives of people with neurological conditions.