The billionaire has suggested that this device could one day “in principle, fix anything that is wrong with the brain,” and has recently made posts on Twitter saying that his Neuralink firm will have the device ready in less than a year. “Progress update August 29” and “AI symbiosis while u wait.”
The goal is to create a full brain interface within 25 years, this means that humans may be able to connect with devices using only their minds. But this also brings about a plethora of humanitarian, privacy, control, and security concerns.
Neuralink was founded because Musk wants to develop these brain implants so that humans can stop being outpaced by artificial intelligence. The company is working on developing tiny threads that would be inserted into the human brain to possibly help treat injuries, trauma, and make people smarter. According to Musk the mission statement of Neuralink is “If you can’t beat em, join em”.
Part of the process to insert these brain implants requires removing part of the skull so that the device and electrode threads can be inserted into the brain. Musk claims that once the operation is over and the patient is stitched up you will not be able to tell that they have had a device inserted into their brain.
While the company is not testing on humans yet, Musk was quoted as saying that he doesn’t think it will be too long until they are, while on the Joe Rogan podcast. “We may be able to implant a neural link in less than a year in a person I think,” said the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
On the company website it is boasted that they are developing “ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers“. It may appear as if the company is gearing up to create a superhuman cyborg race that one might see in a sci-fi movie.
However, this technology is not just intended for that reason, as according to Musk the company will first be focused on developing medical applications like combating the effects of brain diseases such as epilepsy. Once that end point is met the brain chips will be updated to develop a symbiotic relationship and connection between artificial intelligence and humanity to form a singularity.
The implants are said to be about an inch in diameter which is similar to the face of a smartwatch; and a robot would be used to insert the chip implants into the brain, as well as to connect the threadlike electrodes to the brain itself.
“If you got an interface into the motor cortex, and then an implant that’s like a microcontroller near muscle groups you can then create a sort of a neural shunt that restores somebody who quadriplegic to full functionality, like they can walk around, be normal – maybe slightly better overtime,” said Musk.
The ambitious entrepreneur is digging tunnels underneath cities to create a new form of transportation, and trying to move humans to mars, while being a major car manufacturer, but he believes humans are being outpaced by AI, and these small implanted chips will help to protect humans from becoming an endangered species in a possible future uprising of machines. He suggests that the implanted devices will be no more dangerous than getting a heart monitor or an artificial hip. He even went as far as to suggest that it could speed up the way we communicate and that one day we may not even need to talk.
For many a brain chip interface such as this could mean that people become more machine than human, which of great concern. It will work somewhat like an internet cable to transmit data in and out at high speeds which also brings up several concerns about security, control, and privacy.
While such a device has many “pros” it also has just as many “cons”, the real question is if these benefits are greater than the risks, and if it can be proven to be safe on all matters of concern rather than turning out to be what one would see in a Matrix like sci-fi horror movie wherein good intentions went horribly wrong. As it stands singularity is highly questionable. Only time will tell.
