Neuralink

Neuralink Corp.
Company typePrivate
IndustryNeurotechnology
FoundedJune 21, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-06-21)
FounderElon Musk
HeadquartersFremont, California, United States[1]
Key people
Jared Birchall (CEO)[2]
Products
OwnerElon Musk
Number of employees
c. 300[3] (2022)
Websiteneuralink.com
This article is part of
a series about
Elon Musk
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Neuralink Corp.[4] is an American neurotechnology company that has developed, as of 2024, implantable brain–computer interfaces (BCIs). It was founded by Elon Musk and a team of eight scientists and engineers (Max Hodak, Benjamin Rapoport, Dongjin Seo, Paul Merolla, Philip Sabes, Tim Gardner, Tim Hanson, and Vanessa Tolosa).[4][5][6][7] Neuralink was launched in 2016 and was first publicly reported in March 2017.[8][9][10][11]

In January 2017, Musk approached Pedram Mohseni and Randolph Nudo, who owned the rights to the name “NeuraLink.” These two neuroscientists strived to create an electronic brain chip to treat traumatic brain injury. They made significant progress and completed preliminary testing but could not receive enough funding or support from investors to continue. Musk approached the two and offered tens of thousands of dollars for the company’s name.[12]

The company is based in Fremont, California with plans to build a three-story building with office and manufacturing space near Austin, Texas in Del Valle, located about 10 miles east of Tesla's headquarters and manufacturing plant that opened in 2022.[5]

Since its founding, the company has hired several high-profile neuroscientists from various universities.[13] By July 2019, it had received $158 million in funding (of which $100 million was from Musk) and was employing a staff of 90 employees.[14] At that time, Neuralink announced that it was working on a "sewing machine-like" device capable of implanting very thin (4 to 6 μm in width)[15] threads into the brain, and demonstrated a system that reads information from a lab rat via 1,500 electrodes. They had anticipated starting experiments with humans in 2020,[14] but have since moved that projection to 2023. As of May 2023, they have been approved for human trials in the United States.[6] On January 29, 2024, Musk announced that Neuralink had successfully implanted a Neuralink device in a human and that the patient was recovering.[16]

The company has faced criticism for a large amount of euthanization of primates that underwent medical trials. Veterinary records of the monkeys showed a number of complications with electrodes being surgically implanted.[17]

In September 2024, the company announced that its latest development effort, called Blindsight, will allow those who would otherwise be blind to restore some level of vision, provided the visual cortex is undamaged. The development received "breakthrough" status from the federal government, which will accelerate development.[18]

  1. ^ Falconer, Rebecca (December 1, 2022). "Elon Musk highlights monkey "telepathic typing" at Neuralink event". Axios. Archived from the original on December 15, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  2. ^ "Elon Musk's Inner Circle Rocked by Fight Over His $230 Billion Fortune". Wall Street Journal. July 18, 2022. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  3. ^ Levy, Rachael (July 19, 2022). "Neuralink co-founder departs Musk-backed startup". Reuters. Archived from the original on July 19, 2022. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  4. ^ a b "NEURALINK CORP". OpenCorporates. June 21, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Rohit, Parimal M. (July 11, 2024). "Elon Musk's Neuralink Building Plans in Austin Extend Area's Tech Hub Status". CoStar. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Sharma, Akriti; Levy, Rachel (May 25, 2023). "Elon Musk's Neuralink says has FDA approval for study of brain implants in humans". Reuters.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Winkler, Rolfe (March 27, 2017). "Elon Musk Launches Neuralink to Connect Brains With Computers". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Masunaga, Samantha (April 21, 2017). "A quick guide to Elon Musk's new brain-implant company, Neuralink". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  11. ^ Statt, Nick (March 27, 2017). "Elon Musk launches Neuralink, a venture to merge the human brain with AI". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 6, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  12. ^ "Meet the Guys Who Sold "Neuralink" to Elon Musk without Even Realizing It". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  13. ^ "Elon Musk's Brain Tech Startup Is Raising More Cash". May 11, 2019. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved May 12, 2019. The company has hired away several high-profile neuroscientists
  14. ^ a b Markoff, John (July 16, 2019). "Elon Musk's Company Takes Baby Steps to Wiring Brains to the Internet". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  15. ^ Elizabeth Lopatto. Elon Musk unveils Neuralink's plans for brain-reading 'threads' and a robot to insert them. Archived July 17, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. The Verge. 16 July 2019.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Thompson, David (September 18, 2024). "Elon Musk Touts New Neuralink Brain Chip to Treat Blindness". The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 18, 2024.