The brain chip, Musk explains, is called Telepathy … and he says it “enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.”

Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Neuralink, made a groundbreaking announcement on Monday. He revealed that the first human recipient of an implant from his brain-chip startup underwent the procedure on Sunday and is currently recovering well. Taking to social media, X, Musk posted, “The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well. Initial results show promising neuron spike detection”

The company is developing a brain implant that aims to help patients with severe paralysis control external technologies using only neural signals. Neuralink began recruiting patients for its first in-human clinical trial in the fall after it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct the study back in May, according to a blog post.

The brain chip, Musk explains, is called Telepathy … and he says it “enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.”

If the technology functions properly, patients with severe degenerative diseases like ALS could someday use the implant to communicate or access social media by moving cursors and typing with their minds.

“Enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking. Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs. Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal.”

Enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.

Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs.

Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 30, 2024

About Neuralink

The PRIME Study (short for Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface) – an investigational medical device trial for fully-implantable, wireless brain-computer interface (BCI) – aims to evaluate the safety of our implant (N1) and surgical robot (R1) and assess the initial functionality of our BCI for enabling people with paralysis to control external devices with their thoughts, according to the company’s website.

During the study, the R1 Robot will be used to surgically place the N1 Implant’s ultra-fine and flexible threads in a region of the brain that controls movement intention. Once in place, the N1 Implant is cosmetically invisible and is intended to record and transmit brain signals wirelessly to an app that decodes movement intention. The initial goal of our BCI is to grant people the ability to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone, it also said.

The PRIME Study is being conducted under the investigational device exemption (IDE) awarded by the FDA in May 2023 and represents an important step in our mission to create a generalised brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs, it added.

Neuralink did not disclose how many human patients will participate in its initial in-human trial.