Elon Musk’s Neuralink has made waves in the mainstream media and scientific community after releasing a video of a 9-year-old macaque monkey playing Ping Pong with his mind.
Forbes reported that Pager has a Neuralink interface implanted in his brain, allowing him to play the game with his mind alone.
Neuralink is attempting to develop “a fully-implanted, wireless, high-channel-count brain-machine interface (BMI) with the goal of enabling people with paralysis to directly use their neural activity to operate computers and mobile devices with speed and ease,” according to Forbes.
Neuralink is a brain technology company founded by Tesla and SpaceX owner and tech mogul Elon Musk in 2016. Its “technology has the potential of treating a wide range of neurological disorders, to restore sensory and movement function, and eventually to expand how we interact with each other, with the world, and with ourselves,” the company has said.
Musk took to Twitter to say: “A monkey is literally playing a video game telepathically using a brain chip!!”
Some experts said the test is a significant feat for Neuralink, albeit not revolutionary, as scientists have long been able to get monkeys to control cursors using neural interfaces.
In an interview with Insider, University of Newcastle Professor Andrew Jackson said the first technology comparable to Neuralink’s was demonstrated in 2002. However, “while it’s not earth-shattering, it is an important proof of concept,” he said.
What is unique about Neuralink’s technology is its wireless mode.
“I would say that is definitely progress — not super innovative but a nice positive step forward,” Insider quoted Rylie Green, a bioengineering researcher at Imperial College London, as saying.