Musk to Announce Neuralink Trial for Speech, Off-Medical Brain Insertion
Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company founded by Elon Musk, is set to launch a new clinical trial in the United States in October 2025. The trial, aimed at translating thoughts into text, is a significant step towards the company's long-term goal of enhancing human capabilities.
In a recent presentation, Seo, a Neuralink executive, discussed the possibility of directly querying large language model AI platforms with the mind, bypassing the need for a keyboard. This concept, if successful, could potentially revolutionise communication, allowing individuals to speak to AI models at the speed of thought and receive information back through devices like AirPods.
Neuralink's device could open up new possibilities for speech-impaired people to communicate more effectively. Currently, neural devices can transmit a person's speech directly to a computer for those who can't control their mouths to make words. This technology has already been used by research scientists to help people with strokes or neurodegenerative diseases like ALS communicate.
The US Food and Drug Administration has granted Neuralink an investigational device exemption for the trial. The company is also running five other clinical trials testing implants that control electronic devices.
Neuralink's long-term ambition is to put implants in 20,000 people a year by 2031. The company is one of several companies building a brain-computer interface, and similar devices have already demonstrated the ability to read directly from a person's brain what they are trying to say or even what they imagine saying.
However, it's important to note that there are no implants commercially available for patients that read speech directly from the brain. Neuralink's device, if successful, could be the first of its kind.
The October start for the thought-to-text trial is a delay from Neuralink's previous schedule. The details from Seo's presentation were reported earlier this week by media in South Korea.
In addition to potential applications for communication, Neuralink is also working toward potential treatments for blindness and Parkinson's disease, but does not yet have any devices approved for commercial use. The company ultimately plans to produce consumer technology.
A video of the talk was posted on YouTube on Friday. For more updates on Neuralink's progress, stay tuned.
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