Tech magnate and world’s richest man Elon Musk claims his company Neuralink has implanted a chip into a monkey’s brain that gives it the ability to play video games with its mind.
Musk spoke about the breakthrough during an interview on audio-streaming app Clubhouse early Monday morning. Neuralink’s goal, he said, is to create a brain implant that will let human beings control computers with nothing but their minds. (RELATED: Elon Musk Joins Mass California Exodus, Moves To Texas)
Please consider working at Neuralink!
Short-term: solve brain/spine injuries
Long-term: human/AI symbiosisLatter will be species-level important
Work at either at our Bay Area or Austin locations https://t.co/LPzDrWO8h3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 31, 2021
“We’ve already got a monkey with a wireless implant in their skull, and the tiny wires, who can play video games using his mind,” the Tesla founder said. Neuralink previously installed a chip inside of a pig named Gertrude. The experiments have drawn criticism from groups like PETA, but Musk says the monkey is pleased with the development.
“He’s not uncomfortable and he doesn’t look weird,” Musk said of the latest implant recipient. “One of the things we’re trying to figure out is, can we have the monkeys play mind-Pong with each other? That would be pretty cool.”
Musk said Neuralink is being designed to help paralyzed individuals more easily interact with cellphones and computers, according to the New York Post.