Neuralink, a company owned by the billionaire Elon Musk, stepped out of the shadows this week to announce it has developed a technology to allow humans to control computers with brain implants.
It’s asking federal regulators to begin human trialsOpens a new window of a brain-computer interface by the end of 2020. Neurological patients would be asked to participate.
While the announcement sounds like a plot from a science-fiction movie, many in the technology industry believe that such an interface eventually will become accepted science.
Versions of the technology, still in its infancy, have already been tested on paralyzed patients at Brown University. Now, research teams including those financed separately by Musk and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg are looking to unlock human applications.
Tiny Threads in the Brain
Neuralink’s implant consists of thousands of electrodes placed inside the brain, each with tiny threads attached.
The threads are a tenth of the width of a human hair and can monitor the electrical impulses of 1,000 neurons. They feed back the neural data from the brain to a receiver outside the brain that can then translate it into actions.
Using chips implanted in the brain, the interface could eventually enable paralyzed patients to control phones, laptops and medical devices with their thoughts, and write texts and even move objects simply by thinking.
Neuralink, formed quietly two years ago in San Francisco with a reported $100 million investment from Musk, introduced itself at a splashy “Hello World†presentation streamed over the Internet with chats by Musk and others and high-definition videos set to rousing music.
Already Tested on Rats and Monkeys
Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, revealedOpens a new window that Neuralink has already tested the system on monkeys. “A monkey has been able to control a computer with its brain, FYI,†he said.
Scientists at Neuralink gave a separate laboratory demonstrationOpens a new window to journalist John Markoff  that showed a system connected to a rat reading information from 1,500 electrodes. While the system was 15 times better than current systems embedded in humans, the scientists admitted they have a long way to go before they could begin to offer a commercial service.
Another technology called BrainGateOpens a new window has already been used successfully.
In 2006, a patient with spinal cord paralysis was given a brain implant using BrainGate that allowed him to control a computer cursor. Other patients have also benefited from the system. But BrainGate uses stiff needles implanted into the brain. Musk claims the Neuralink system is a significant advance on this because it uses flexible threads that are less damaging to the brain tissue.
The Neuralink implants are inserted into the brain using a surgical robot, which has been compared to a sewing machine, that drills tiny holes in the skull. In the long term, the aim is to use laser surgery to drill holes for the implants.
But such methods are far more invasive than other technology for reading brain activity, which use sensors embedded in a helmet placed on the head, rather than electrodes inserted into the brain.
Another Approach to BCI Tech
Musk’s announcement comes as technology companies step up their development of what has become known as a brain-computer interface or BCI. Zuckerberg revealedOpens a new window earlier this year that his company is working on a BCI project that would allow virtual and augmented reality users to navigate through virtual worlds using their thoughts.
He dismissed the idea of brain implants. “If you are actually trying to build things that everyone is going to use, you are going to want to focus on the non-invasive things,†he said.  Facebook’s plan is for a helmet that would scan the brain for links between thoughts and the brain’s electrical activity.
Meanwhile, a start-up called CTRL-Labs, which has received funding from Amazon, uses a wrist band to intercept neural signals from the brain to the hand.
At the Neuralink presentation, the company showed off a sensor called the N1 which is implanted in the brain and connects wirelessly to a device worn behind the ear. Executives say the aim is to embed the implant and use wireless connectivity to allow people to connect to it by a smartphone app. The company asked the Food and Drug administration to permit human trials.
Will it Help or Harm Humanity?
In the long-term, Musk views BCI as a way to help humans compete with artificial intelligence, which he believes will eventually outpace and race ahead of human intelligence and create a threat to the species.
He said the goal of Neuralink is to help humans gain “a sort of symbiosis with AI†where the brain would merge with AI and be able to stay abreast of it.
Some of the technologies which Musk promotes can sound quite far-fetched, such as living on Mars or the vacuum-powered Hyperloop tunnel system. Musk himself once famously said he would not mind dying on Mars so long as it is not in a spaceship crash on the planet.
Yet some scientists have questioned whether engineers like Musk and Zuckerburg are marching too quickly to drumbeats from the edges of technology without thinking about the potential harm to humanity.
Or, as one self-described scientist and entrepreneur, Jeff Stibel, wroteOpens a new window : “whether we are literally giving up our minds to a group of engineers without any consideration of the consequences.â€