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Elon Musk’s Neuralink implants pigs with computer implants
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Billionaire Elon Musk has used a pig to demonstrate new technology that could allow people control computers with their minds.
A tech firm co-founded by Elon Musk has fitted computer chips into the brains of pigs in a weird science bid to help people control computers with their minds.
The billionaire entrepreneur revealed Neuralink had placed coin-sized implants into three pigs during research to help those with severe spine and brain injuries.
Musk – believed to be worth around $110 billion – described the animals involved in his state-of-the art experiments as “healthy, happy and indistinguishable from a normal pig”.
The Tesla and SpaceX founder displayed the startling technology during a demonstration that appeared to be aimed at recruiting new staff.
This video grab from the Neuralink livestream shows Elon Musk standing next to the surgical robot used to implant the chips into pings’ brains. Picture: Neuralink / AFPSource:AFP
Musk showed off a prototype of the device, about the size of a large coin, which had been surgically placed inside several pigs shown in an enclosure behind him.
He had last month tweeted that Neuralink “will show neurons firing in real-time” and that is what appears to have happened.
The tycoon showed an animal named Gertrude with one of the brain implants.
While she snuffed around in a pen, YouTube viewers witnessed her brain activity on a large screen.
The prototype is about the size of a large coin. Picture: Neuralink / AFPSource:AFP
“We have a healthy and happy pig, initially shy but obviously high energy and, you know, kind of loving life, and she’s had the implant for two months,” Musk told the audience.
He described the chip as “a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires” during his “Three Little Pigs” demo.
“It goes flush on your skull. I could have a Neuralink right now and you wouldn’t know,” he said before adding: “Maybe I do.”
“The neurons are like wiring, and you sort of need an electronic thing to solve an electronic problem,” he said.
Gertrude the pig was implanted with the Neuralink device. Picture: Neuralink / AFPSource:AFP
The hi-tech system is comprised of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads that are stitched into the brain by a robot.
It can then pick ups signals in the brain which can be translated into motor controls.
Musk later took viewers over to an area with three pigs in separate pens, revealing one was not chipped up.
“Dorothy which had an implant that was removed, illustrates that Link can be removed and you will live a healthy life,” he explained.
The audience was presented with a diagram showing the different steps of the implantation of the device. Picture: Neuralink / AFPSource:AFP
However, another pig had an implant, which Musk showed captured its brain activity on a screen.
“This shows the beats of Link on the screen and you can see each of the spikes from the 1024 electrodes implanted in the pigs brain,” Musk said.
“When she touches her snout to the ground, the neurons will fire and that is what makes the sound.”
Musk started Neuralink in 2016 but details of the tech it was working on have been kept secret until now.
Neuralink has sought approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the project.
During Friday’s update, Musk was asked about methods of application including for video games or summoning one’s vehicle.
A closer look at the surgical robot. Picture: Neuralink / AFPSource:AFP
But the 49-year-old and his team made it clear the company first wants the chip to assist people who have severe spinal cord injuries with talking, typing and movement using their brain waves.
“I am confident that long term it would be possible to restore someone’s full-body motion,” said Musk, who has also famously said that he wants to “die on Mars, just not on impact”.
Although the technology is initially aimed at helping those with brain disorders, Musk has said a brain-machine interface is needed in the future to mitigate the “existential threat of AI”.
During Friday’s update, the billionaire called for engineers, coders and those with experience delivering products to market to apply to work at Neuralink, adding: “You don’t need to have brain experience.”
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
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