Neuralink implants its device in a human for the first time
The first participant in Neuralink's clinical trial received the company's brain implant in January 2024.
Company
Neuralink
Neuralink develops implantable brain-computer interfaces, with an initial aim of helping people with paralysis control devices using their thoughts.
- Founded 2016
- Focus Brain-computer interfaces
Official site: neuralink.com
About Neuralink
Neuralink's device is a small implant with many thin, flexible threads that sit in the brain and record electrical activity from neurons. A surgical robot places the threads precisely, to avoid blood vessels.
The company showed the system on pigs and monkeys, won US regulatory approval for a human study in 2023, and implanted its first participant in January 2024. Its near-term goal is to let people with paralysis operate computers and other devices.
Stories 5
Neuralink wins FDA approval for its first human trial
Regulators cleared the company to test its brain implant in people.
Neuralink shows a monkey playing Pong with its mind
A video showed a macaque named Pager controlling a game cursor using its implant alone.
Neuralink shows a pig with a working brain implant
In a livestream, the company introduced "Gertrude," a pig whose brain activity was read in real time.
Neuralink is revealed as Musk's brain-computer interface startup
Reports in March 2017 revealed that Elon Musk had co-founded a company to build implantable brain-computer interfaces.