Elon Musk announced on Friday that he wanted to equip “this year” a first human being with neural implants from his company Neuralink, whose technology has just been authorized in the United States. “We hope that later this year we will do our first human chip implant, for someone who has a form of tetraplegia,” the billionaire said when interviewed by a child and his father at the end of a question-and-answer session in front of 3,600 people at the Dôme de Paris.
“I want to reassure anyone who may be scared off by Neuralink. It will be quite a slow process,” he added. Neuralink, a start-up created by Elon Musk, received approval from US health authorities at the end of May to test its brain implants on humans. By housing chips in human brains, the multi-billionaire’s goal is to make brains and computers communicate directly.
The medium-term goal is to help people who are paralyzed, suffering from spinal cord injuries or suffering from neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease. In the long term, the goal would be to create a symbiotic relationship between humans and artificial intelligence, which could blur the lines between human thought and computing.
