Find the best application for computer brain interfaces
"Neuralink" ... a slide to achieve symbiosis between human and machine intelligence
Musk believes that treatments for a range of diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia can be found using Neuralink.
From the source
Elon Musk said, three and a half years ago at the World Government Summit in Dubai, shortly before the appointment of the UAE as the world's first Minister of Artificial Intelligence: “We will likely see a closer integration between biological and digital intelligence, and the brain’s interface may help achieve symbiosis between Human and machine intelligence. ”And the following month, Musk announced that he had developed a brain-computer interface, which he called“ Neuralink ”.
The startup launched its prototype "V2", a coin-shaped device designed to be implanted in the skull, and implanted in less than an hour without general anesthesia.
During the show, Musk presented a barn of animals (pigs), equipped with Neuralink devices.
One of them made noises, which was sniffing as a sign of increased brain activity.
But that's all it's doing so far, and there's no expected launch date for it, and Musk emphasized that the show was primarily an attempt to recruit scientists for his company.
And it seems that reaching a close interface between the computer and the brain is inevitable, after we have seen how many people are connected to their smartphones.
However, we don't know exactly what to do with our digital devices if the implant enables us to control it.
And maybe we can turn on the lights, or order something online, just by thinking about it.
This may sound like science fiction, and it still is today.
Indeed, for decades, neuroscientists have studied the idea of a brain computer interface, the ability to convert brain signals into outputs that indicate user intent.
The first use cases will be largely therapeutic.
This enables people with paralysis to move their prostheses more easily, and enables the blind to regain their eyesight.
Indeed, these interfaces showed great potential. The interface "Brian Gate", for example, allowed a patient with quadriplegia to send a text message from his brain.
However, developing a distinct application of this technology will require better treatment of complex neurological problems.
“I see that the future of computer-brain interfaces is to address psychological problems and disorders, such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorders,” said Matthew Angel, CEO of Paradomix, in an interview with Forbes magazine.
There are different ways to develop these interfaces, to deal with this complex biology.
Musk envisions access to treatments for a similar set of diseases, in addition to Alzheimer's and dementia, using Neuralink, and neurologists have shown mixed reactions to the device.
Lauren Frank, a neuroscientist at the University of California San Francisco and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, said in his conversation with Wired: “The action of (Neuralink) in a human brain for a long time without problems, and without destroying a group of blood vessels is a difficult biological problem, regardless of The beauty of the tool itself ».
The body does not usually welcome electronics, which means that the interface materials will pose a great challenge during the work of the brain, and solid materials may injure the brain, which leads to the accumulation of scar tissue.
Exploring what the impact of AI software is doing in the brain is just as important as testing the safety of these substances' effects on this fragile brain interface.
"The hard part, they did was make the animal look happy, wander and behave normally, during the wireless data transmission," said Timir Data Chaudhuri of the Feinstein Institutes of Medical Research in New York.
As for the other team that was able to implant this interface, it was forced to place the animal on an operating table under anesthesia and wires coming out of its brain.
A brain implant
Datta Chaudhuri warned that happy animals may not be healthy. He said, “They have underestimated potential brain damage, which is not easily noticeable in humans, let alone pigs, you will not know if other pigs are away from it, because it is behaving strangely. ».
And Elon Musk believes that his startup, Neuralink (four years old), will be the first to make a brain implant, and to make it available to everyone at reasonable prices.
• After trying it on a group of pigs, one of them made sounds while he was sniffing, as a sign of increased brain activity.
• A coin-shaped device designed to implant in the skull, and implanted in less than an hour without general anesthesia.
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