Elon Musk’s Neuralink Shows Video of a Monkey Playing Pong with Its Brain

Neuralink is one of the Elon Musk companies trying to change the world. Its technology tries to make neural activity directly interacting with objects. By decoding neural signals sent by the brain, the Neuralink can increase information exchange speed from the human brain to the device, and all ones needs to do is think.

Musk announced in February that his team was already studying ways to let monkeys play video games by themselves.

"We have a monkey with a wireless implant in its skull with tiny wires which can play video games with his mind. You can’t see where the implant is, and he’s a happy monkey," Bloomberg quoted Musk as saying a while back.

A video released this week shows a 9-year-old macaque named Pager learning to control the computer with its thoughts. A scientist said in the video that Pager had two Neuralink devices implanted in his brain. When it plays a game, the Neuralink device reads the brain activity, and the computer is decoding it.

At first, the monkey was taught how to use a joystick to interact with the computer. Through the Neuralink app connected to the implant, the staff could monitor Pager’s brain activity and collect the data, which was then analyzed through a decoding program. The Neuralink was able to anticipate where Pager was going to move the controller, but when the team disconnected the joystick, Pager continued to play MindPong controlling the cursor entirely with decoded neural activity.

Musk previously stated that the goal of Neuralink’s first product is to help people who are paralyzed. For people with paralysis, the device could restore physical mobility by stimulating the nerves and muscles in the body, giving the paralyzed person the power to control their limbs once again.

"@Neuralink product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs," said Elon Musk via Twitter.

The project has come a long way over the past year, making significant progress, and it seems to be developing at a fast pace.