The new neurochip from Neuralink
Neurochip for data transfer between brain and computer tested on pigs
Sergey Shapiro, XX2 century
Elon Musk's company Neuralink demonstrated a neurochip designed to transmit signals between the brain and a computer. The implant was implanted in experimental pigs, showing how the technology allows reading data from the animal's brain in real time. This is the second presentation of the company founded in 2016, focused on the creation of implantable neurocomputer interfaces.
In 2019, Neuralink held its first presentation, in which it presented a product – the "N1 chip", designed for implantation into the brain, as well as a robot for implanting neural network implants into the brain for exchanging signals between the brain and a computer. At the same time, we are not talking about creating a special type of neurointerface: such technologies have been known since the 2000s. The merit of the company consists in the development of thin flexible filaments that are more reliable and safe compared to the electrodes with which experiments were conducted earlier.
Threads for transmitting signals from brain neurons.
This time, the company went further by introducing a chip called Link "the size of a coin", which is supposed to be implanted into the brain through a small hole, leaving no external traces. The concept of the device has been significantly rethought compared to the early iterations: previously, engineers assumed the introduction of a chip that would be connected by electrodes to a transmitter placed nearby (for example, behind the patient's ear). Now data processing, according to the developers, takes place right inside the device, and information is transmitted outside via BlueTooth.
The new chip, according to Musk, is more productive than previously developed models of neural interfaces. Compared to the 2019 version, Neuralink has optimized the technology by reducing the number of data transfer electrodes from 3072 to 1024. The device is manufactured using 6-nanometer technology, the latency is significantly lower compared to a PC, and it is also planned to release an API for third-party application developers. The chip still requires charging once a day, and Neuralink has provided wireless magnetic technology for this, similar to that used in the Apple Watch. Among the stated features (in the future, of course), for example – broadcasting music directly to the brain, calling Tesla "with the power of thought", managing games like Starcraft. In addition, various sensors are built into the chip: a gyroscope, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, etc.
At the presentation, such a "transmitter" was introduced to two pigs, although only one was shown to the public. The technology does allow real-time reading of data from the pig's brain, but interpretation has not yet been discussed: a pig would hardly be able to control the power of thought by any external device. The demonstration mainly focused on the safe implementation and extraction of the chip, plus a demonstration of signal reading capabilities – in any case, after extraction, the pig continued to behave as if nothing had happened.
The Link device.
The presentation also generated critical comments, including from neurophysiologists involved in the field. Experts working with the problem of neuroimpulses in higher primates and related to similar developments of neurointerfaces indicate that for adequate transmission of information between the brain and the computer, it is necessary to track impulses from about 5 billion neurons. So far, such a task is beyond the power of any modern technology. Objections were also raised by the possibility demonstrated at the presentation of introducing about 1000 removing electrodes within an hour: each such electrode should get close enough to the corresponding neuron and be fixed near it for a long time without damaging the cells. In any case, we don't see how successfully the neurobot does it.
Last year, Elon Musk said that in 2020 he hopes to start testing the device on humans. The first clinical trials are supposed to be conducted on a small number of patients with serious spinal cord injuries, so far to ensure the safety and operability of the technology. In the future, such devices are supposed to be used to restore the working capacity of patients with such injuries – paired with an additional implant in the spinal cord. So far, the main purpose of the demonstration, which the company does not hide, is advertising and attracting new specialists to Neuralink: now about a hundred people work there, but it is planned to attract up to ten thousand.
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