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Elon Musk’s Neuralink unveils sleek V0.9 device, uses sassy pigs for live brain machine demo

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6 years ago

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After another year of successfully staying in the shadows, Elon Musk’s Neuralink has revealed what’s been going on behind the scenes in terms of technological progress. In a live streamed event on Friday afternoon, the brain-machine interface company gave a demonstration, took questions, and left audiences with even more to mull over than ever.

“The primary purpose of this demo is recruiting,” Musk stated at the very beginning of the presentation. He emphasized that everyone at some point in their life will face a brain or spine problem – all inherently electrical – meaning it takes electrical solutions to solve electrical problems. Neuralink’s goals are to solve these problems for anyone who wants them solved, and that application will be simple and reversible with no negative effects.

Two pigs were used for the ‘real-time’ demonstration promised in the days leading up to the event. The first, named Gertrude, had a Neuralink implant installed for two months and was shown to be healthy and happy. A second pig, named Dorothy, had the implant previously installed and removed with no side effects afterward.

After a bit of a delay from the amusingly sassy Neuralink-implanted pigs, the live stream and in-house audience witnessed Gertrude’s device in action. Notably, the neural implants could predict all the limb movements of the pigs based on the neural activity being read. Each reading was shown on a screen and musical notes attached as the data was processed.

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Overall, here are some of the main takeaways from the presentation.

  • The Neuralink implant device has been dramatically simplified since Summer 2019. Its design will be very low profile and nearly invisible on the outside, leaving only a small scar that could be covered by hair. “It’s like a FitBit in your skull with tiny wires,” Musk half-joked. “I could have it right now and you wouldn’t even know. Maybe I do!”
  • The implant device is inductively charged, much like wireless smartphones are charged. It will also have functions that are akin to those available on smartwatches today.
  • A “smart” robot installs the device, which requires engineering talent to accomplish, hence the recruiting focus of the Neuralink event. The “V2” robot featured in this year’s presentation looks like a step up from last year’s machine.
  • The electrodes are installed without general anesthesia, no bleeding, and no noticeable damage. The currently developed robot has done all the current implant installations to date.
  • The implant can be installed and removed without any side effects.
  • You can have multiple Neuralink devices implanted and they will work seamlessly.
  • The implant device would have an application linked to your phones.
  • Neuralink received a ‘breakthrough device’ designation from the FDA in July, and the company is working with the agency to make the technology as safe as possible.
  • The device will eventually be able to be sewn deeper within the brain, thereby having access to a greater range of functions beyond the upper cortex. Examples are motor function, depression, and addiction.
  • Getting a Neuralink should take less than an hour, without the need for general anesthesia. Users could have the surgery done in the morning and go home later during the day.

 

The idea for Musk’s AI-focused brain venture first seemed to really take off after his appearance at Vox Media’s Recode Code Conference in 2016. The CEO had discussed the concept of a neural lace device on several occasions up to that point and suggested at the conference that he might be willing to tackle the challenge himself. A few months later, he revealed that he was in fact working on the idea, which was detailed at great length by Tim Urban on his website Wait But Why.

“He started Neuralink to accelerate our pace into the Wizard Era—into a world where he says that ‘everyone who wants to have this AI extension of themselves could have one, so there would be billions of individual human-AI symbiotes who, collectively, make decisions about the future.’ A world where AI really could be of the people, by the people, for the people,” Urban summarized. Given that bigger picture perspective, the 2020 Neuralink event seems even more impactful.

Neuralink’s official Twitter account opened the virtual floor to questions using the #askneuralink hashtag the night before the event, prompting several questions during the presentation. However, Musk fanned the building curiosity in the hours beforehand. “Giant gap between experimental medical device for use only in patients with extreme medical problems & widespread consumer use. This is way harder than making a small number of prototypes,” Musk responded to one question directed towards the mass market viability of a future Neuralink product line.

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https://twitter.com/flcnhvy/status/1299422178329362437

Also in the days prior to the Neuralink event, Musk teased a few more bits of information about what to expect. “Live webcast of working @Neuralink device,” he said. Just prior to his confirmation of the device demonstration, he revealed that version two of the robot initially shown in the first progress update in 2019 wasn’t quite up to the level of a LASIK eye surgery machine, though only a few years away.

You can watch the full event below:

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Accidental computer geek, fascinated by most history and the multiplanetary future on its way. Quite keen on the democratization of space. | It's pronounced day-sha, but I answer to almost any variation thereof.

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Investor's Corner

Lucid denies rumors of bankruptcy after over 40% stock drop

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1 hour ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: Lucid

Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.

Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”

Twork said:

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Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.

Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.

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Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.

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Tesla owner attempts resale of Model S Signature Edition for over $260k

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5 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: Tesla

A Tesla owner who purchased a Model S Signature Edition, one of the final 250 units of the all-electric flagship vehicle that the company discontinued earlier this year, is attempting to sell the car despite a no-resale clause that prohibits reselling for the first year.

The car is being sold by J&S Autohaus in Ewing, New Jersey, and is priced at $260,490, well above the $159,420 that Tesla sold it for earlier this year.

To those who do not know, the Model S Signature was a highly exclusive, limited-run farewell variant of the Model S Plaid that was produced this year to mark the end of production of both the Model S and Model X, Tesla’s two flagship vehicles.

Limited to just 250 units with invite-only sales, it serves as a collector’s item celebrating the legacy of the Model S, which helped pioneer Tesla’s electric vehicle success since its 2012 launch.

It bundles top-tier performance with bespoke cosmetic and luxury upgrades, plus Tesla’s Luxe Package. Here’s what the Model S Signature has over the typical Model S Plaid:

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  • Exclusive Exterior – Unique Garnet Red Paint, matching door handles, gold Tesla “T” badges upfront, gold Plaid and Signature badging at the rear.
  • Premium Interior – White Alcantara upholstery with gold piping/accents, gold Plaid seat badges, Signature-marked door sills, individually numbered dashboard plaque, gold puddle lights, special interior lighting sequence, and a custom Signature key fob.
  • Performance Upgrades – Carbon-ceramic brakes with gold calipers
  • Bundled Luxe Package – Full Self-Driving (Supervised), four years of Premium Connectivity, free lifetime Supercharging
  • Performance Metrics – ~1,020 horsepower, sub-2-second 0-60 MPH, ~390-mile range

Tesla quickly introduced a No Resale Agreement for the Signature Editions of the Model S and Model X, which would penalize the seller for “the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater.”

The company continues:

“If you sell or otherwise transfer the ownership of your Model S or Model X, the remainder of the Recommended Maintenance, Wheel and Tire Protection Plan, and Windshield Protection Plan will transfer automatically to the buyer. The Full Self-Driving (Supervised), Free Supercharging and Premium Connectivity will not transfer with the vehicle and will terminate once the ownership of the Model S or Model X is transferred.”

Tesla will likely come after the seller, especially as it has been about two months since Tesla launched deliveries.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Early Impressions: new features and early performance

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8 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: TESLARATI

Tesla rolled out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.3.5 yesterday, and about fifty miles of driving on the new version has given me enough time to highlight what seems to be strong about the release and what is not.

Additionally, Tesla has added a few new features with this specific update, which we’ll highlight as well.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Performance

The new update is business as usual. Things seem to be running completely normal and necessary, but there are a few things that we’ve seemed to pick up on based on our own experience with v14.3.5, as well as what other users are seeing.

Initially, it seems to be more aware of its surroundings, making moves that are incredibly courteous to other drives and operating just a tad more reserved than what the suite might have done previously.

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We had two instances where it showed this, the first being FSD needing to pass a Flagger Force vehicle that was placing down signage for the day. Their work truck was right at the front corner of a right-hand turn; typically where most cars travel when they take that turn.

FSD v14.3.5 recognized this, slowed down, and took the turn wide with no issues:

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Additionally, v14.3.5 backed up for a semi truck that was making a wide turn onto a road my car was on. This is not new, but it seemed to be backing up for courtesy; it didn’t seem completely necessary, but it might have put some peace of mind in the truck driver’s head:

X user Mike P, also a Pennsylvania native like myself, shared three clips of his Tesla running v14.3.5 performing similar maneuvers. He said:

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“FSD turns right into a small alley that only fits one car at a time, sees oncoming car, reverses out of alley to make space, realizes oncoming car is actually parking, re-enters alley.”

Check it out here:

It seems like Speed Profiles are still in need of some tweaking; I am adjusting what Speed Profile I’m in frequently, constantly changing it to get it to travel at the correct speed. This was an issue for me on v14.3.4. It seems like they’re just a little inconsistent.

Terrible Parking

Parking attempts on v14.3.5 were not good. There are quite a few people who have said this:

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David Moss, the Tesla owner who has taken multiple coast-to-coast drives without any interventions, also has had some issues with parking early on with v14.3.5:

New Features

Tesla has added the ability to open Camera Preview at any time. Previously, it was only available in Park. Here’s what that feature looks like in action:

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Check back later this week for a longer review of what we’ve noticed on Full Self-Driving v14.3.5.

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