The first person implanted with a chip from Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink has recovered and can move a computer mouse with just a thought.
The operation, assisted by Neuralink's surgical robot, marked a major milestone for the company and its efforts to connect the brain directly to computers, after it was granted permission in September to recruit patients to test the device's ability to help paralyzed people regain lost functions by controlling computers with thought, Forbes reported.
"The progress is good," Musk said, adding that the patient suffered "no negative effects."
Neuralink is still in the early stages of testing and development, and its hopes for widespread adoption of brain-reading and computer-controlling technology are still many years away. The company's first products will be aimed at restoring lost functions to people with paralysis or impaired vision.
Elon Musk has said that Neuralink's first products will include "telepathy" that will allow users to control a phone or computer "with just a thought" — a feature that this clinical experiment is partly intended to test, as well as features that would could restore sight to blind people.
The billionaire claims that the technology aims to be used more widely to improve memory and increase intelligence./BGNES