Elon Musk has posted an optimistic forecast for Neuralink’s ramp in the coming years. While there are only two human patients with the company’s brain implant today, Musk noted that if all goes well, there could be millions of Neuralink patients within ten years.
Neuralink recently announced that the second participant in its PRIME Study, Alex, is seeing notable progress. Since receiving his implant, Alex has been improving his ability to play video games and use computer programs. This includes computer-aided design (CAD) software, which he used to design a custom mount for his Neuralink charger.
As per a Neuralink blog post about the startup’s second human patient, Alex has also been able to play first-person shooting games such as Counter-Strike, which require the use of numerous inputs. A demonstration shared by Neuralink showed that with his brain implant, Alex is now able to play Counter-Strike in a relatively proficient manner.
Amidst news of Neuralink’s second human patient, Elon Musk shared some of his expectations for the brain machine interface company’s progress in the coming years. As per Musk, Neuralink could see hundreds of patients in a few years. Musk noted that this number could increase to tens of thousands in five years, and millions within ten years.
Update about the second Neuralink device in a human.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2024
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
Neuralink has so far only released its first product, Telepathy, which allows patients to operate tech devices using their mind. Telepathy is just the beginning, however, as the brain machine startup is also planning on releasing other devices. Elon Musk, for one, has noted on social media platform X that Neuralink’s next device would be BlindSight, which is expected to help patients restore vision.
“The first two applications we’re going to aim for in humans are restoring vision, and I think this is notable in that even if someone has never had vision ever like they were born blind–we believe we can still restore vision. The visual part of the cortex is still there. Even if they’ve never seen before, we’re confident they could see,” Musk noted during Neuralink’s Show and Tell event in 2022.
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