New Delhi: Elon Musk said that a third person has received an implant from his brain-computer interface company Neuralinkone of many groups working to connect the nervous system to machines.
“We have… three humans with Neuralinks and they are all working well,” he said during a wide-ranging interview at a Las Vegas event broadcast on his X social media platform.
From the first brain implant About a year ago, Musk said the company had updated the devices with more electrodes, higher bandwidth and longer battery life. Musk also said Neuralink hopes to implant the experimental devices in 20 to 30 more people this year.
Musk did not provide any details about the latest patient, but there are updates on previous ones.
The second recipient – who has a spinal cord injury and received the implant last summer – was playing video games with the help of the device and learning how to use computer-aided design software to create three-dimensional objects. The first patient, also paralyzed after a spinal cord injury, described how playing video games and chess helped him.
But although these advances in Neuralink usually attract attention, many other companies and research groups are working on similar projects. Two studies last year in the New England Journal of Medicine described how brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, helped people with ALS communicate better.
Who works on brain-computer interface technology? According to a US study database, more than 45 trials involving brain-computer interfaces are underway. Efforts are aimed at helping treat brain disorders, overcoming brain injuries and other uses.
Many research labs have already shown that humans can precisely control computer cursors using BCI, said Rajesh Rao, co-director of the Center for Neurotechnology at the University of Washington.
Rao said Neuralink may be unique in two ways: The surgery to implant the device is the first time a robot has been used to implant flexible electrode threads into a human brain to record neural activity and control devices. And those threads can record from more neurons than other interfaces.
Still, he said, the advantages of Neuralink’s approach have yet to be demonstrated, and some competitors have overshadowed the company in other ways. For example, Rao said companies like Synchron, Blackrock Neurotech and Onward Medical are already doing BCI tests in people “who use less invasive methods or more versatile approaches” that combine neuronal recording with stimulation.
What are the benefits of BCIs? Marco Baptista, chief scientific officer of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, called the BCI technology “very exciting” with potential benefits for people with paralysis.
Through clinical trials“We’ll be able to see what the winning approach will be,” he said. “It’s a little early to tell.”
Baptista said his foundation generally tries to support research teams financially and with help from experts, although it has not given money to Neuralink.
“We really need to support high-risk, high-reward initiatives. This is clearly high-risk, high-reward. We don’t know how safe it will be. We don’t know how feasible it will be.” ” said.
How are BCIs tested and regulated? Neuralink announced in 2023 that it had obtained permission from US regulators to begin testing its device on people.
While most medical devices come to market without clinical studies, high-risk ones that go through premarket approval need what’s called an “investigational device exemption” from the Food and Drug Administration, he said. Dr. Rita Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies high-risk devices.
Neuralink says it has this exemption, but the FDA said it cannot confirm or disclose information about a particular study.
Redberg said the FDA tends to be involved in all steps, from patient recruitment to device testing and data analysis. He said this regulatory process prioritizes safety.
He also pointed out another layer of protection: Any research involving people needs an institutional review board, or IRB. May also be called an ethical review board or independent ethics committee. Members must include at least one non-scientist, as well as someone who is not affiliated with the institution or organization that forms the board.
The role of such boards “is to assume that there is a reasonable risk and a reasonable possibility of benefit and that patients are informed of that before they enroll,” Redberg said.
