Business

Musk Predicts Neuralink’s Future—Including ‘Cybernetic Superpowers’ And Controlling Robots—As Company Prepares To Implant Second Volunteers

July 12, 2024

Topline

Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink will one day bestow “cybernetic superpowers” on people and allow them to control robots with their mind, the tech billionaire claimed Thursday, offering a futuristic and unrealistic forecast for the opaque company’s next steps after he delivered a rare update and revealed plans to implant a second human patient within “the next week or so.”

Elon Musk said Neuralink is preparing to implant its second patient.

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Key Facts

“I think cybernetic superpowers are likely in the future,” Musk said in an early morning post on X suggesting that in the future amputees with Neuralink’s brain computer interface device could potentially move prosthetic limbs faster than they ever would have been to do so before they lost the limb.

The billionaire’s statement capped a series of tweets over the future directions of Neuralink, which he claimed would include treating epilepsy and fully curing paralysis, something Musk said is a “tough problem, but ultimately solvable.”

In the future, users will also be able to tap Neuralink’s device to control Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, with their thoughts, Musk claimed, a device the billionaire has previously said could go on sale as early as the end of next year and optimistically predicts will transform the electric carmaker into a $25 trillion company.

The futuristic predictions came after Musk and Neuralink executives gave a rare update on the company’s progress and outlined future plans in a video livestream posted on X.

Musk revealed Neuralink planned to surgically implant its experimental brain chip into a second human patient within “the next week or so,” despite having encountered hardware problems with their first patient, whose device partially detached from the brain a few weeks after surgery, and said he hoped to have the number of participants testing the device reaching into the “high single digits” by the end of the year.

Musk said Neuralink is also taking steps to reduce the risk of the implant retracting from the brain like it did for its first patient, including sculpting the skull to help the device sit better, inserting threads deeper into the brain and removing air pockets left inside the skull after surgery, and is also developing an improved device that could potentially “double the bandwidth” offered by its current model.

How Accurate Are Elon Musk’s Predictions?

Many of Musk’s predictions and updates are best treated with a healthy degree of skepticism. The billionaire is well known for his hyperbolic and often wildly optimistic predictions for the future directions of humanity, technology and the companies he leads and many of his past forecasts have proven to be way off base. Timelines and more advanced applications of technologies that are still in their relative infancy—such as brain computer interface implants, robotics and fully autonomous vehicles, or “robotaxis”—have been particular sticking points for Musk in the past and while controlling a robotic limb with superhuman speed or seizing Optimus with thought is theoretically possible, these will be a long way off into the future, particularly if being used for enhancement by a healthy individual, rather than as medical treatment. Similarly, Musk’s belief that Neuralink will help humans merge with AI is possible but a long way off in the future. Even for nearer-term applications like treating or curing paralysis, restoring sight to the blind—technologies Neuralink plans to market as “Telepathy” and “Blindsight”—or treating other neurological conditions like epilepsy, it is important to remember Neuralink’s technology is still considered experimental and has only been approved for use in closely monitored clinical trials. Even if everything goes to plan for Neuralink’s trials, which is far from guaranteed, commercial rollout for even limited use as a medical device is likely to be years away. Experts told Forbes company’s lack of transparency compounds the difficulties in assessing how Neuralink’s technology is developing and faring in the real world and updates are often selective, limited in scope and sparsely delivered over Musk’s livestreams and tweets.

What To Watch For

Musk said Neuralink’s brain chip could be more efficient and powerful than its current model. It will double the amount of threads inserted into the brain from 64 in the current device to 128, with each thread having half the number of electrodes on each of them, down from 16 to 8, which should help boost efficiency if they’re placed well in the brain. Musk did not give a timeline for when such a device may be ready to be tested in humans or what Neuralink plans to do with it.

Crucial Quote

“What is surprising is that it functions at all,” Musk said of the human brain. Musk described the brain as a “biological computer” that “shrinks over time as we age.”

Forbes Valuation

Musk is the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $258.2 billion. Much of Musk’s fortune is tied to the companies he cofounded and leads, notably carmaker Tesla, as well as rocket firm SpaceX, tunneling company The Boring Co. and AI startup xAI. He also owns social media platform X, which he controversially acquired in 2022.

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