The Neuralink device is designed to be surgically implanted and will eventually be released to the general public
The brain-computer interface start-up (Brain-Computer Interface – BCI) of Elon Musk, Neuralink, reportedly received approval from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States to conduct some form of “human” testing for its surgically implanted brain device.
Congratulations Neuralink team! https://t.co/AWZGf33UDr
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 26, 2023
It is currently unclear what kind of trials Neuralink's tweet is referring to – the only other information reported was that the company is not yet accepting applicants. In early 2022 the FDA he had refused to give Neuralink approval for human trials, due to various safety concerns that, at the time, the company was reportedly working to resolve. The FDA's apparent U-turn indicates that those concerns have been resolved, and the company should then be free to conduct limited trials of the surgically implanted BCI device.
Describing how BCI works, Elon Musk has stated that it would help with certain medical and mobility issues. BCIs are being developed to treat many conditions, such as epilepsy. They also provide quality of life services for people with disabilities, such as the ability to direct the mouse cursor through eye movement or thought. Musk also stated that the device will be developed for use by the general public as a general-purpose BCI, which allows humans to interface with machines through thought and protects us from being replaced by machines.
So far, Neuralink is only allowed to conduct tests on laboratory animals, such as monkeys and pigs. The company faced recently a federal investigation into alleged animal abuse—however, Neuralink has denied any wrongdoing, and the investigation appears to have quietly ended. A separate investigation on the alleged transport of infected devices remains in progress.
With human testing on the table, Musk's vision of human-artificial intelligence (AI) hybrids is one step closer. Therefore, it may be time for developers and entrepreneurs to start looking at the applications and use cases of a recreational, surgically implanted BCI. Musk has also suggested that BCIs will allow people to operate smartphones faster with their minds than they could with their thumbs. Recent research from the University of Texas has shown that artificial intelligence systems similar to Chat GPT they can already be trained to interpret brain waves to a limited extent.
But perhaps the most interesting potential use case for the cryptocurrency and blockchain communities comes from Microsoft. Several patents filed in 2018 and 2019 describe a system by which a wearable “sensor” could be built to provide “proof-of-work” for cryptocurrency rewards and blockchain mining and validation.
According to one of the patent filings:
For example, a brain wave or body heat emitted by the user when the user performs the task provided by an information or service provider, such as viewing advertisements or using certain Internet services, can be used in the mining process
With a BCI like this one Neuralink describes in her original research paper and an example like the one described in the Microsoft patent, it should be possible to validate brain waves intrinsically, thus making it possible to verify “proof of work” through thought alone.
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