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The Story: On Monday, Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain implant device company, successfully implanted its first chip into a human. Musk updated the public on the news via X yesterday, posting, “The first human received an implant from Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well. Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”

The neurotech company calls the product Telepathy and claims that it, when implanted, can enable control of a patient’s phone or computer through just his thoughts.

Months after Neuralink initiated the recruitment of potential human test subjects for its clinical trial, the announcement follows the FDA's approval of the trial in May of last year.

Neuralink asked volunteers with quadriplegia (the loss of use of all four limbs) to apply for the trial if they are over the age of 22 and have “limited or no ability to use both hands due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).”

Expert Take: Paul Le Floch, co-founder & CEO of Axoft, a neurotechnology company developing the next generation of brain implants, anticipates that it will be 5-to-10 years before we see Telepathy become a consumer device widely available to the public.

He says, “Before it becomes a consumer device, which I think is one of the intents of the company, it needs to become a safe and effective medical device because it’s an implant, and implants are regulated in the US.”

Although many fear the negative consequences brain implants could ordain for the human race, Le Floch is in the optimistic camp. “I’m mostly excited [about brain implant technology] because I think it is a novel way to treat patients and answer medical needs that we couldn’t deal with before. Patients with limited ability to communicate, to speak, or to move could actually recover a lot of their abilities.”

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