‘Elon Musk is working with new company on communication between brain and software’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has launched a new company called Neuralink. This is concerned with research into a brain implant that should initially relieve symptoms of disorders and possibly ‘improve’ the brain at a later stage.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Neuralink was founded in California last summer as a medical research company. According to sources of the newspaper, it should therefore initially focus on alleviating the symptoms of epilepsy and major depression. This must be done using a so-called neural lace, which is connected to the brain. Musk would take a leading role within the company.

Once the company proves that its products are safe and actually perform their function, it could turn to “improving” the human brain, the paper said. Musk has expressed this wish before, when he said that the current human ‘output level’ to, for example, a telephone is very low. That’s because we now have to type with our fingers. He also made comments about the speed at which artificial intelligence is developing and that humans could be lagging behind.

Several people are now employed by Neuralink, including specialists in the field of flexible electrodes and their implantation, and controlling movement through the brain. In an interview, Musk recently said that an actual ‘partial-brain interface’ will have to wait about five years. In it, he also said that the ‘neural lace’ should eventually make it possible to exchange information wirelessly between the brain and other devices.