Elon Musk's Neuralink wants to put tiny computers in human brains, trials to begin in 6 months

Neuralink is a company co-founded by the billionaire Elon Musk and it's unlike any of his other ventures. The company recently conducted an event after nearly four years and it had some big announcements to make. As far-fetched as the tech may sound, Neuralink will begin human trials within six months. Neuralink conducted a 'show and tell' event where they demonstrated the strides made in their technology. A primate was used to show off some of the progress Neuralink has made in the past years.  

What is Neuralink?

The explanation lies in the name. Neuralink aims to build a product that aims to enhance or supplement the human brain. It calls itself a brain-computer interface company. The aim of the company is to use implants in the brain and use it to control a computer with the help of brain activity (neural impulse). 

The technology has been tested on pigs and monkeys. This year's demonstration showcased the use of Neuralink implants in monkey brains. The implant was used for the monkey to type 'welcome to show and tell' at the beginning of the event. 

How Musk explained it

During the event, Musk said Neuralink is like substituting a piece of your skull with a smartwatch. He said, “It’s like replacing a piece of your skull with a smartwatch, for lack of a better analogy.” 

A piece of the skull is removed using precise robotic needles. During the demo, the engineers claimed that the small computed can be placed in a skull in about 15 minutes and it will use 64 'threads' to function in the desired fashion. These hair-like threads will be pierced into the brain using the robotic apparatus at a very specific depth. 

Also see: Monkey plays video game through telepathy; Elon Musk shares viral video

Considering it runs on a battery, you'll also have to charge it. The engineers demonstrated how the monkey was lured into a position under a wireless charger in order to juice up the apparatus.