In 2024, Neuralink announced its first successful medical implants in patients, and the owner behind it, tech genius Elon Musk, predicted the numbed of people to have his chips implanted within the next 20 years would be “hundreds of millions.”
“If all goes well, there will be hundreds of people with Neuralinks within a few years, maybe tens of thousands within 5 years, millions within 10 years,” Musk posted on X.
A year later, we ask if his prediction has started to become a reality.
Musk believes that the need for chip implants comes with the development of AI and the humans’ urge to keep up with it.
Elon Musk: Hundreds of millions of people could have Neuralinks in the future.
Lex Fridman: “Do you think there will be a world in the next couple of decades where hundreds of millions of people have Neuralinks?”
Elon: “Yeah, I do. If it's extremely safe, and you can have… pic.twitter.com/PN7suBzMpn
— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) January 12, 2025
In January 2024, neurosurgeons implanted a Neuralink chip into different areas of the brain tissue of patient Noland Arbaugh, a man paralyzed below his shoulders due to a driving accident.
The chip, which was the size of a coin, contained 64 flexible threads, each thinner than a human hair.
During a live-streamed demonstration, Arbaugh played chess and other online games without making a single movement. He explained that the experience felt like using “Force powers” from Star Wars.
About a month later, Arbaugh’s performances declined, but Neuralink restored his capabilities after certain modifications of their algorithm.
Neuralink announced in a blog post that the second patient to receive their chip, “Alex,” is successfully using computer-aided design (CAD) software to design 3D objects and to play video games.
Why Neuralink is the most important company this decade!@neuralink is delivering life-changing value to humanity and is at an inflection point as goes from being a technology in the lab to people’s homes this year.
As an investor, we look for transformative innovations — where… pic.twitter.com/P4evc45t5V
— Apoorv Agrawal (@apoorv03) December 12, 2024
“To reduce the probability of thread retraction in our second participant, we implemented a number of mitigations, including reducing brain motion during the surgery and reducing the gap between the implant and the surface of the brain,” the blog post stated.
“This marks another significant step towards providing a high-performance interface that will enhance the control of digital devices for people with quadriplegia to help restore their autonomy.
“We hope that in time, the Link helps many people create in their areas of interest and expertise, and we’re excited to work with more people to help them reconnect with their passions,” the company stated.
Update about the second Neuralink device in a human.
If all goes well, there will be hundreds of people with Neuralinks within a few years, maybe tens of thousands within 5 years, millions within 10 years, … https://t.co/opy1xj5JgF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2024
Elon Musk believes the recipients of the chips will outperform professional gamers within two years and will speed up human brains.
“Our slow output rate would diminish the link between humans and computers,” Musk said, and made a comparison with plants. “Let’s say you look at this plant or whatever, and hey, I’d really like to make that plant happy, but it’s not saying a lot.”
Musk’s near-term plans heavily focus on optimizing brain data transmission rates. “The low data rate of humans, especially our slow output rate, would diminish the link between humans and computers,” Musk explained, proposing to increase brain signal speed “by three, maybe six, or more orders of magnitude.”
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