The race for brain implants to control machines with thought

Brain implant research targets paralyzed people, but the commercial prospects are much broader and entrepreneurs, like Elon Musk, are already on board.

In 2024, we will come a little closer to the dream of transhumanists, that is to say: merging Man and machine in order to boost our physical and intellectual capacities. We have not yet reached the alarmist scenarios of science fiction films. Initially, the objective will simply be to help paralyzed people to control a wheelchair or a keyboard directly by thought.

This is an area that researchers have been working on for years. Now that the technology is maturing, commercial companies are taking over. There are about ten at the moment. The best known is called Neuralink, a company created by Elon Musk. If you are interested, she is currently looking for volunteers to test her famous implant which will connect your brain to a machine.

Already thousands of applications despite the risks

This brain implant is grafted directly into the brain. We will therefore open your skull to be able to plug in a chip, which will then communicate wirelessly with the outside world. This is why, until now, the few experiments on humans were carried out at the same time as other open skull operations, either to remove a brain tumor or to treat epilepsy. But this does not seem to worry the people concerned, since Neuralink has already received several thousand applications from people ready to take the plunge. With this perspective: control a computer at the speed of thought and mix artificial and human intelligence.

Obviously, everyone is looking to make the procedure less invasive. One of Neuralink’s competitors, Synchron, uses a stent to bring the implant up through the jugular vein after an incision in the neck. This avoids opening the skull. As for Forest Neurotech, it relies on sonar that detects blood flow in the brain without having to touch it. But in all cases, it will still be necessary to resort to surgery, therefore confronting all the inherent risks. Let’s see if it’s really worth it.

These technologies can be interesting for people with disabilities. The research actually targets people who are paralyzed or suffer from neuronal diseases. But beyond disability, companies are also interested in commercial prospects, because many people dream of controlling their devices by thought.