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Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain-machine interface is turning sci-fi into reality
Besides giving the world the option to switch to Tesla emissions-free electric cars and hopes of sending humans to Mars and beyond, Elon Musk also dreams of giving humans symbiosis with artificial intelligence through an implantable brain-machine interface created by Neuralink, a company he founded in 2016.
Neuralink is working on improving the basic structures of high-density Utah Array, a tiny chip that has become the industry benchmark for recording large populations of neurons. Dr. Richard Norman from the University of Utah invented the chip in 1997, which acts as an ultra-thin, flexible, and biocompatible polymer that connects the human brain to a tiny chip. During an event last year, Neurallink explained that the implant can be placed behind the ear and can interpret brain signals. Musk’s neural tech company has also invented a robot that can sew the implant to the brain with better precision than any human surgeon.
Wait until you see the next version vs what was presented last year. It’s *awesome*.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2020
So far, the brain-machine interface by Neuralink has reportedly helped a primate communicate with a computer interface. There are plans to install a prototype this year into a human. According to Musk, they are still on track to do this.
“It will ultimately be used to make up for entire lost sections of the brain due to stroke/accident/congenital. Don’t want to get too excited, but the potential is truly transformational for restoring brain & motor functions. There is no other way to do it imo,” Musk also wrote on Twitter.
The possibilities for Neuralink’s implant are endless. The symbiosis between humans and AI will be a long shot but Neuralink’s implantable device can pave the way for medical advancements that can help people with chronic neurological problems. Possible medical uses for Neuralink’s device in the future include controlling devices, restoring sensation, and synthetic speech.
CONTROLLING DEVICES
The brain is a complex network of nerves that uses impulses to sense the outside world and to control the human body. Neuralink will use these signals and amplify them so a patient can use them to be more functional. For example, someone with paralyzed upper extremity due to a stroke can have a brain-machine interface on the center of the brain that controls movements of the arm and hands which will help patients feed, dress, and generally function on their own.
Likewise, for someone who has an amputated limb, the Neuralink brain-machine interface will be able to communicate with a robotic arm to help someone use an artificial hand to write or use a computer. It can also be perfect for someone who needs to control a robotic leg to prop one up to stand without the help of anyone.
With a smart home setup, a paralyzed person who cannot clearly or is unable to speak and move can simply command a computer to dim the lights, turn on the air conditioner, or call someone if they need urgent attention.
While it might be a very long shot, these brain-machine interfaces interacting with other future technologies can also serve as bridges to parts of the body that are medically “disconnected”. For example, a patient with spinal cord injury has severed connections between the brain and parts of their body corresponding to the level their spinal cord was injured. The Neuralink implant can play pseudo stem cells that will provide the artificial connection so one can better function. Same for someone with multiple sclerosis whose nerves basically lose the sheath that makes them transmit electrical signals optimally.
“RESTORE” SENSATION
Just like how Neuralink can be exploited to help the brain control movement of a robotic arm, it is highly possible to tap into the sensory cortex of the brain. Sensation allows better manipulation of one’s environment and should be very helpful even when using robotic arms. One can tap the signals of the brain, send it to the brain-machine implant and to the robotic hand, for example, and back. If one grabs a glass of water, it can easily control the movement through space because the patient knows its shape, weight, texture, temperature, among other factors.
The Neuralink team also aims to use the brain-machine interface to “give back” one’s vision by tapping into the visual center of the brain.
SYNTHETIC SPEECH
With its ability to tap into specific signals of the brain, Neuralink also has the potential to create synthetic speech for people who are paralyzed or those with neurological conditions that do not allow them to speak.
These are just some of the things we can see Neuralink will be used for in the future. While all these seem to be fantastical, according to Neuralink, what they’re doing is not pulled from thin air but based on decades of neurological foundation.
Ultimately, with the dream of human-AI symbiosis, as more technologies develop, the use for Neuralink’s brain-machine implant will evolve. Elon Musk mentioned before that perhaps one day, it will be used for telepathic communication between humans or perhaps even drive a Tesla. Or perhaps, in the future, one can upgrade one’s knowledge and download terabytes of information with a blink of an eye through Starlink.
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Tesla rolls out xAI’s Grok to vehicles across Europe
The initial rollout includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain.
Tesla is rolling out Grok to vehicles in Europe. The feature will initially launch in nine European territories.
In a post on X, the official Tesla Europe, Middle East & Africa account confirmed that Grok is coming to Teslas in Europe. The initial rollout includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain, and additional markets are expected to be added later.
Grok allows drivers to ask questions using real-time information and interact hands-free while driving. According to Tesla’s support documentation, Grok can also initiate navigation commands, enabling users to search for destinations, discover points of interest, and adjust routes without touching the touchscreen, as per the feature’s official webpage.
The system offers selectable personalities, ranging from “Storyteller” to “Unhinged,” and is activated either through the App Launcher or by pressing and holding the steering wheel’s microphone button.
Grok is currently available only on Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck vehicles equipped with an AMD infotainment processor. Vehicles must be running software version 2025.26 or later, with navigation command support requiring version 2025.44.25 or newer.
Drivers must also have Premium Connectivity or a stable Wi-Fi connection to use the feature. Tesla notes that Grok does not currently replace standard voice commands for vehicle controls such as climate or media adjustments.
The company has stated that Grok interactions are processed securely by xAI and are not linked to individual drivers or vehicles. Users do not need a Grok account or subscription to enable the feature at this time as well.
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Tesla ends Full Self-Driving purchase option in the U.S.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Tesla has officially ended the option to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, a move that was announced for the United States market in January by CEO Elon Musk.
The driver assistance suite is now exclusively available in the U.S. as a subscription, which is currently priced at $99 per month.
Tesla moved away from the outright purchase option in an effort to move more people to the subscription program, but there are concerns over its current price and the potential for it to rise.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Although Tesla moved back the deadline in other countries, it has now taken effect in the U.S. on Sunday morning. Tesla updated its website to reflect this:
🚨 Tesla has officially moved the outright purchase option for FSD on its website pic.twitter.com/RZt1oIevB3
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 15, 2026
There are still some concerns regarding its price, as $99 per month is not where many consumers are hoping to see the subscription price stay.
Musk has said that as capabilities improve, the price will go up, but it seems unlikely that 10 million drivers will want to pay an extra $100 every month for the capability, even if it is extremely useful.
Instead, many owners and fans of the company are calling for Tesla to offer a different type of pricing platform. This includes a tiered-system that would let owners pick and choose the features they would want for varying prices, or even a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual pricing option, which would incentivize longer-term purchasing.
Although Musk and other Tesla are aware of FSD’s capabilities and state is is worth much more than its current price, there could be some merit in the idea of offering a price for Supervised FSD and another price for Unsupervised FSD when it becomes available.
Elon Musk
Musk bankers looking to trim xAI debt after SpaceX merger: report
xAI has built up $18 billion in debt over the past few years, with some of this being attributed to the purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the creation of the AI development company. A new financing deal would help trim some of the financial burden that is currently present ahead of the plan to take SpaceX public sometime this year.
Elon Musk’s bankers are looking to trim the debt that xAI has taken on over the past few years, following the company’s merger with SpaceX, a new report from Bloomberg says.
xAI has built up $18 billion in debt over the past few years, with some of this being attributed to the purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the creation of the AI development company. Bankers are trying to create some kind of financing plan that would trim “some of the heavy interest costs” that come with the debt.
The financing deal would help trim some of the financial burden that is currently present ahead of the plan to take SpaceX public sometime this year. Musk has essentially confirmed that SpaceX would be heading toward an IPO last month.
The report indicates that Morgan Stanley is expected to take the leading role in any financing plan, citing people familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley, along with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are all expected to be in the lineup of banks leading SpaceX’s potential IPO.
Since Musk acquired X, he has also had what Bloomberg says is a “mixed track record with debt markets.” Since purchasing X a few years ago with a $12.5 billion financing package, X pays “tens of millions in interest payments every month.”
That debt is held by Bank of America, Barclays, Mitsubishi, UFJ Financial, BNP Paribas SA, Mizuho, and Société Générale SA.
X merged with xAI last March, which brought the valuation to $45 billion, including the debt.
SpaceX announced the merger with xAI earlier this month, a major move in Musk’s plan to alleviate Earth of necessary data centers and replace them with orbital options that will be lower cost:
“In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale. To harness even a millionth of our Sun’s energy would require over a million times more energy than our civilization currently uses! The only logical solution, therefore, is to transport these resource-intensive efforts to a location with vast power and space. I mean, space is called “space” for a reason.”
The merger has many advantages, but one of the most crucial is that it positions the now-merged companies to fund broader goals, fueled by revenue from the Starlink expansion, potential IPO, and AI-driven applications that could accelerate the development of lunar bases.
Tesla rolls out xAI’s Grok to vehicles across Europe
Tesla ends Full Self-Driving purchase option in the U.S.
