Neuralink is one of the most highly publicized neurotechnology companies. Founded by Elon Musk and a team of seven scientists and engineers, Neuralink was launched in in 2016 and was first publicly reported in March 2017.

Neuralink deserves credit for increasing public attention towards neurotechnology such as brain-computer interfaces, which subsequently led to increased investments and collaboration opportunities. Additionally, it may have functioned as a sort of idea incubator with many former Neuralink employees and executives eventually leaving to focus on other exciting new endeavors within neurotech.

After exploring a plethora of options for their technology, Neuralink settled on "thread"-based electrodes, which are thin and flexible polymer electrodes designed to match the mechanical impedance of the brain. Upon implantation, Neuralink weaves these electrodes through neural tissue.

In April 2021, Neuralink demonstrated a monkey playing the game "Pong" using the Neuralink N1 implant. In May 2021, co-founder and president Max Hodak announced that he no longer works with the company.

Neuralink received FDA approval for human clinical trials in May 2023, and implanted the first human participant (Noland Arbaugh, 29) in January 2024. Arbaugh, who described becoming paralysed from the shoulders down in a diving accident, said that using Neuralink had become “intuitive” after practising imagining moving the cursor on the screen.

On March 20, 2024, Musk announced that the next Neuralink product will be called Blindsight, used to restore a rudimentary form of vision to people who are blind.

Visual Prostheses

• Link N1

  cortical

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