Latest news with #Telepathy
NBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- NBC News
Elon Musk's Neuralink raises $650 million in fresh capital
Elon Musk's brain tech startup Neuralink has closed a $650 million funding round, the company announced Monday. ARK Invest, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and other firms participated in the round, according to a press release. Neuralink said the fresh capital will help the company bring its technology to more patients and develop new devices that 'deepen the connection between biological and artificial intelligence.' Neuralink is building a brain-computer interface, or BCI, which is a system that translates brain signals into commands for external technologies. The company's first system, called Telepathy, involves 64 'threads' that are inserted directly into the brain. The threads are thinner than a human hair and record neural signals through 1,024 electrodes, according to Neuralink's website. The initial aim of the technology is to help patients with severe paralysis restore some independence. As of Monday, five patients have been implanted with Neuralink's technology, and are able to 'control digital and physical devices with their thoughts,' the release said. Neuralink is currently carrying out four separate clinical trials around its Telepathy system. BCIs have been studied in academia for decades, and several other companies, including Synchron, Paradromics and Precision Neuroscience, are developing their own systems. Paradromics on Monday announced it successfully implanted its BCI in a human for the first time. It's not clear what devices Neuralink will look to develop next, but Musk has for years espoused grand ambitions for the brain tech startup. He has even claimed that he would be willing to get an implant himself. One of the capabilities Musk has repeatedly highlighted is the ability to restore vision to blind patients. Neuralink received a 'Breakthrough Device' designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a device called Blindsight. This designation is granted to medical devices that have the potential to provide improved treatment for debilitating or life-threatening conditions. In a post on his social media platform X in September, Musk said Blindsight will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see. Neuralink still has a long road ahead before it can commercialize these technologies.
CNBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Elon Musk's Neuralink raises $650 million in fresh capital
Elon Musk's brain tech startup Neuralink has closed a $650 million funding round, the company announced on Monday. ARK Invest, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and other firms participated in the round, according to a release. Neuralink said the fresh capital will help the company bring its technology to more patients and develop new devices that "deepen the connection between biological and artificial intelligence." Neuralink is building a brain-computer interface, or a BCI, which is a system that translates brain signals into commands for external technologies. The company's first system, called Telepathy, involves 64 "threads" that are inserted directly into the brain. The threads are thinner than a human hair and record neural signals through 1,024 electrodes, according to Neuralink's website. The initial aim of the technology is to help patients with severe paralysis restore some independence. As of Monday, five patients have been implanted with Neuralink's technology, and are able to "control digital and physical devices with their thoughts," the release said. Neuralink is currently carrying out four separate clinical trials around its Telepathy system. BCIs have been studied in academia for decades, and several other companies including Synchron, Paradromics and Precision Neuroscience are developing their own systems. Paradromics on Monday announced it successfully implanted its BCI in a human for the first time. It's not exactly clear what devices Neuralink will look to develop next, but Musk has for years espoused grand ambitions for the brain tech startup. He has even claimed that he would be willing to get an implant himself. One of the capabilities Musk has repeatedly highlighted is the ability to restore vision to blind patients. Neuralink received a "Breakthrough Device" designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a device called Blindsight. This designation is granted to medical devices that have the potential to provide improved treatment for debilitating or life-threatening conditions. In a post on his social media platform X in September, Musk said Blindsight will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see. Neuralink still has a long road ahead before it can commercialize these technologies.
WIRED
07-03-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Elon Musk's Neuralink Files to Trademark ‘Telepathy'
Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink has filed applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to exclusively own the names Telepathy, Telekinesis, and others for future products. Neuralink, which Musk cofounded in 2016, is developing a type of technology known as a brain-computer interface, a system that decodes brain activity to control an output device. Musk has said that the company's first product will be called Telepathy and will allow people with paralysis the ability to control a computer or phone just by thinking. But the Neuralink trademark application suggests that that company has ambitions of its technology enabling telepathic communication not just with electronic devices, but between human beings. Neuralink's interface involves a brain implant that collects neural signals and software that translates those signals into cursor movements on a computer screen. So far, three people have received Neuralink's experimental implant as part of an early feasibility study. The first, Noland Arbaugh, underwent brain surgery in January 2024 to get the device. In November, the company received permission to open a trial site in Canada. The company's trademark application for Telepathy, filed on March 3, describes the product as 'an implantable brain to computer interface for facilitating communication and control of software and hardware.' The "facilitating communication' claim could mean that Telepathy is meant to help paralyzed people communicate by way of typing on an external device, but it could also mean allowing telepathic communication between individuals with Neuralink implants. 'The question is, what kind of communication?' says trademark attorney Josh Gerben, founder of Gerben IP. 'Sometimes things hide in plain sight in these applications.' However, he cautions that claims on trademark applications can be speculative and overly broad compared with patent applications, which must be more detailed about how an invention works and what it will be used for. Enabling telepathic communication would, though, fit with Musk's broader vision for Neuralink. Musk has long been interested in the concept of enabling telepathy with a brain-computer interface. In a lengthy illustrated explainer from 2017 in which he outlined the idea behind his then-new company Neuralink, Musk advocated for thought communication between people. 'If I were to communicate a concept to you, you would essentially engage in consensual telepathy. You wouldn't need to verbalize unless you want to add a little flair to the conversation or something, but the conversation would be conceptual interaction on a level that's difficult to conceive of right now,' Musk told blogger Tim Urban at the time.
Miami Herald
29-01-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
What's it like to use Elon Musk's brain chip? How does it work? ‘Like using the Force.'
Elon Musk wants to merge humans with AI. And his goal of achieving 'symbiosis' with artificial intelligence starts with a brain chip. Neuralink, a company Musk co-founded, is testing linking brains to computers and has recently recruited the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine for help. Clinical trials are underway for Telepathy, a Neuralink brain chip that could give people who are paralyzed the ability to use the mind to wirelessly control computers, smartphones and other electronic devices. Miami is the second site in the U.S. selected to test the safety and effectiveness of the experimental device, which has already shown promise. 'It's like using the Force' on a computer cursor, according to Noland Arbaugh, referencing the Star Wars energy field. Arbaugh is a quadriplegic and the first person to get the Neuralink brain chip implant in January 2024 at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. READ MORE: Elon Musk's brain-chip trials expanding to Miami. Here's how it works and what's next Arbaugh and another trial participant have used the mind to control a computer mouse, play online chess and video games since getting the implant, according to the company. Earlier in January, Musk announced a third person had received the implant. So, how does the tech work? Here's a look at the process: Who can use the Neuralink brain chip? The Neuralink brain chip is being tested on volunteers 22 to 75 years old who have limited or no ability to use both hands as part of an FDA-approved clinical trial. Paralysis must be from a cervical spinal cord injury, or ALS, a rare disease that causes nerve cells to stop working and muscles to become weak, leading to paralysis. The selected people will undergo surgery for the brain chip implant. Some of the surgeries could be in Miami. A team of neurosurgeons, neuroscientists and biomedical engineers from The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and neurological surgery department at UM's medical school were recently selected to assist Neuralink scientists with the implant procedures. Once the patient recovers from surgery, the device, commonly referred to as 'The Link,' will be activated and they'll undergo training to set up the device and learn how to use it. MORE: Virtual reality, facial recognition. How AI is reshaping healthcare in South Florida Where does the implant go? During the three- to four-hour operation, surgeons will implant the wireless, rechargeable coin-size brain chip in the part of the brain that handles thoughts and body movement. A Neuralink surgical robot with a needle that's thinner than a human hair will be used to implant more than 60 flexible ultra-thin 'threads.' These threads are so fine that they can't be inserted by human hand, according to Neuralink. How does the Neuralink tech work? The device records electrical signals sent between brain cells and wirelessly transmits it to Neuralink's software, which will be running on a computer or another device. The software will then decode and translate the neural data into actions, such as moving a cursor or a chess piece on a computer screen, playing video games, even using design software. 'Essentially, what the implant does is it connects a person's thoughts to a digital device,' Dr. Allan Levi, the clinical director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at UM's medical school and one of the trial's co-investigators, told the Miami Herald in a phone interview. What happens after surgery? Once patients recover from surgery, the device is activated and training begins. The training is similar to the set-up process used for face recognition, accessibility controls and other features on a phone or computer. It's essentially 'training your brain to think about things that are presented to you so that the chip can interpret' what movement you want to do, said Levi, the UM neurosurgeon. For Arbaugh, it required thinking about what action he wanted to do. 'We basically went from what we call — kind of differentiating from imagined movement versus attempted movement — so a lot of what we started out was attempting to move say my right hand left, right, forward, back and from there it just came intuitive for me to start imagining the cursor moving,' Arbaugh said in a video Neuralink posted on X in March. What is the clinical trial testing? The clinical trial is testing the safety and effectiveness of the brain chip and the surgical robot used to implant the device in people with tetraparesis, weakness in arms and legs, or tetraplegia, complete paralysis in arms and legs. To learn more about the trial and eligibility requirements, visit Those interested in learning whether they may qualify for the 'Precise Robotically IMplanted Brain-Computer InterfacE,' or PRIME, trial can sign up through Neuralink's United States Patient Registry. READ MORE: 'New era and treatment of breast cancer': AI is helping detect breast cancer earlier
