The entrepreneur posted on X (formerly Twitter) to confirm the implant, which took place on Jan. 28.
“The first human received an implant from Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well,” Musk posted. “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”
The company won a regulatory nod in May for a first-in-human implant, and in September it opened up recruitment for its clinical trial. Musk also announced in August that Neuralink brought in $280 million, and the company in November added a further $43 million.
Neuralink develops an implant that comes in at about the size of a coin. Musk says the company plans to call its first product “Telepathy.”
Remotely rechargeable, the implant goes along with electrode-laced threads that go further into the brain. Neuralink also has an R1 robot meant to be programmed to implant the BCI system while avoiding vasculature.
The company designed its system to enable users to control a computer or mobile device anywhere they go.
(Neuralink is featured among MassDevice’s 2022 list of seven BCI companies you need to know. We also published a 2023 list that includes five more you should know.)
Recent news on Neuralink
Despite the positive updates on in-human implants, Neuralink has been in the news for the wrong reasons of late as well.
Reuters reported about a year ago that the U.S. government would look into Neuralink after reports of errors resulting in repeated experiments, with more animals losing their lives as a result.
Now, following a letter from U.S. lawmakers urging the SEC to look into Neuralink’s monkey deaths (reported by Wired in November), Musk denied the allegations of gruesome deaths as a result of the BCI implant.
Business Insider reported that, at The New York Times’ Dealbook conference, Musk said the test monkeys live in “monkey paradise.” He went on to say that the implant set for first-in-human testing never directly caused the death of a monkey.
Last week, Neuralink was reportedly fined for violating rules related to the movement of hazardous materials.
