Elon Musk says second Neuralink brain implant ‘to give people superpowers’ in a week

Elon Musk said that Neuralink will make some changes to try to mitigate the issue of its electrode threads retracting from brain tissue.

Neuralink aims its device into a second human patient in a week or so, the brain-computer startup's founder Elon Musk said. The company hopes to have devices in patients numbering “in the high single digits” by the end of the year, he said during a broadcast on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The billionaire and several key Neuralink executives reflected on the capabilities and future possibilities of the brain chip device like repairing paralysis and memory loss.

Neuralink logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration. Neuralink hopes to have its technology in several more patients by the end of this year, Elon Musk said. (Reuters)

The team also talked about steps that would be taken in future surgeries to avoid some setbacks that occurred in the first implantation of brain chip on Arizona man Noland Arbaugh. Elon Musk said that the long-term goal “is to mitigate the longer civilizational risk of AI" and Neuralink can help with that by creating “a closer symbiosis between human intelligence and digital intelligence.”

The idea “is to give people super powers", Elon Musk said as he informed that Neuralink will make some changes to try to mitigate the issue of its electrode threads retracting from brain tissue in the upcoming surgeries. The proposed fixes include eliminating an air pocket that might have contributed to retracting threads in the first surgery. In the next surgeries, the company will try to insert the threads more accurately on the folds of the brain, he said.

He said, “You want the iPhone 15. Not the iPhone 1.”

The tech billionaire also emphasized the good care Neuralink takes of the animals it uses for research, saying, “We really do everything we can to maximize the welfare of the animals."