Elon Musk startup Neuralink has implanted its Telepathy device into a human brain for the first time.

Musk posted on X Monday that the person had undergone the surgery a day earlier and was “recovering well.” The implant is a wireless brain-computer interface that is designed to restore autonomy for people with paralysis by allowing them to control external devices with their thoughts.

What You Need To Know

  • The Elon Musk startup, Neuralink, implanted a device into a human brain for the first time on Sunday

  • Musk posted on X Monday that the patient is "recovering well"

  • The Telepathy implant is a wireless brain-computer interfaace that allows people with paralysis to control external devices with their thoughts

  • Neuralink is one of a handful of companies working on the technology

“Enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking,” Musk wrote on X in a follow-up to his original announcement. “Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal.”

Last September, the company announced it was seeking patients for a clinical trial. Called PRIME, for Precise Robotically IMplanted brain-computer interfacE, the study was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in May 2023 as an investigational device exemption. The study is open to individuals who have quadriplegia because of a cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS.

Neuralink’s website says its mission is to “create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow.

The implant is “cosmetically invisible,” according to the site, and is put in place by a surgical robot because threads on the implant are so fine they can’t be inserted by the human hand.

Neuralink was founded by Musk in 2016 and is one of the better-known startups in the nascent brain-computer interface field. Several other companies are also working on the technology, including New York-based Synchron, which won FDA approval to test its device in human subjects in 2021.

About six people with paralysis have been living with implanted Synchron devices in their brains. Two articles published in the science journal Nature last year reported that people who can’t speak because of their paralysis are able to use implanted brain-computer interfaces to communicate. So-called BCI implants hold the potential for paralyzed individuals to send messages and do other basic computer tasks without moving a muscle.