Neuralink
American neurotechnology company / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Neuralink Corp.[4] is an American neurotechnology company that has developed, as of 2024, implantable brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), and is based in Fremont, California. Founded by Elon Musk and a team of seven scientists and engineers, Neuralink was launched in 2016 and was first publicly reported in March 2017.[5][6][7][8]
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Brain–computer interface Neuroprosthetics |
Founded | June 21, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-06-21) |
Founder | Elon Musk |
Headquarters | Fremont, California, U.S.[1] |
Key people | Jared Birchall (CEO)[2] |
Owner | Elon Musk |
Number of employees | c. 300[3] (2022) |
Website | neuralink |
Since its founding, the company has hired several high-profile neuroscientists from various universities.[9] By July 2019, it had received $158 million in funding (of which $100 million was from Musk) and was employing a staff of 90 employees.[10] At that time, Neuralink announced that it was working on a "sewing machine-like" device capable of implanting very thin (4 to 6 μm in width)[11] threads into the brain, and demonstrated a system that reads information from a lab rat via 1,500 electrodes. They had anticipated starting experiments with humans in 2020,[10] but have since moved that projection to 2023. As of May 2023, they have been approved for human trials in the United States.[12]
The company has faced criticism for a large amount of euthanization of primates that underwent medical trials. Veterinary records of the monkeys showed a number of complications with electrodes being surgically implanted.[13] On January 29, 2024, Musk said that Neuralink had successfully implanted a Neuralink device in a human and that the patient was recovering.[14] This person was Noland Arbaugh, who had been involved in a diving accident which left him paralyzed from the neck down.