Elon Musk's ambition to merge humans with AI

Elon Musk is currently implanting brain-computer interface chips to help paralyzed people, but his long-term goal is to merge humans with AI.

'The implant acts as an augmentation of your own brain, giving humans the option to coexist with artificial intelligence ,' Elon Musk said at a Neuralink event in July 2019. 'The idea is to create a future that is compatible with the existential threat of AI.'

According to VOX , this is an important statement from the American billionaire, showing that he co-founded Neuralink not only to support paralyzed or immobile patients, but wants Neuralink to do something bigger.

'Musk is very good at building a reputation for his company, but also creating extraordinary things that not everyone can do ,' Anne Vanhoestenberghe, professor of active implantable medical devices at King's College London, told the Telegraph .

Illustration of the Neuralink chip system mounted on a patient's head. (Photo: Tesla Space/YouTube).

Elon Musk's Vision

Neuralink was co-founded by Musk in 2016 with seven other members. At some events, he mainly emphasized the ambition of merging humans with machines.

'Over time, I think we're likely to see a closer integration of biological intelligence and digital intelligence ,' he said at the World Government Summit in Dubai in February 2017. 'It's mostly about bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, especially the output.'

Musk envisioned brain-computer interfaces that could communicate at 'a trillion bits per second ,' while humans are limited to communication methods like speech or sign language at 10 bits per second. 'Some high-bandwidth interface to the brain would be something that would enable symbiosis between human and machine intelligence and could solve the problem of AI control ,' Musk told CNBC in 2017.

The world's first known person to have a brain implant was Neil Harbisson, who agreed to have an antenna inserted into his skull in 2004. The system sends signals such as electromagnetic radiation, phone calls, videos or images that are converted into audible vibrations. The wifi-enabled antenna also helps Harbisson receive signals and data from satellites. Musk did not mention Harbisson, but according to Dezeen , the billionaire's statements show that he wants to do bigger things, and Neuralink is here to make that ambition a reality.

What's in Neuralink's brain chip?

According to information on Neuralink's website, the brain-computer chip system is distributed across 96 fiber bundles , each of which can hold up to 3,072 electrodes. Each fiber is less than 1/10 the size of a human hair and contains 192 electrodes. Each electrode bundle is encased in a small implant containing a custom-made wireless chip, measuring 4 x 4 mm. The fibers are individually inserted into the brain "with micron precision" using a tiny needle at the tip of a robot, 24 microns in diameter.

Description of Neuralink's brain chip system. (Video: TechRadar/Neuralink).

According to Ashlee Vance, author of Musk's first biography in 2015, Neuralink's ultra-thin chip is now reduced to about 64 bundles of fibers. The fibers are so thin that they are only 1/14th the width of a human hair. To insert the brain chip, doctors need several hours of skull surgery, then 25 minutes for a robot to insert the device.

The implant works by recording information emitted by neurons in the brain. The brain's neurons are connected to form a large network through synapses. At these connections, the neurons communicate with each other using chemical signals called neurotransmitters, which are released in response to an electrical impulse called an "action potential."

When a cell receives enough of the right neurotransmitters, a chain reaction is triggered, causing an 'action potential' as neurons relay messages across synapses. These potentials then create an electric field that propagates from the neuron and can be detected by placing electrodes nearby, allowing the information expressed by the neuron to be recorded. At Neuralink's 2019 event, Musk said that up to 10 implants could be placed in one hemisphere of the brain.

Neuralink has been looking for volunteers. On September 19, 2023, the company received permission to test the chip on paralyzed people. According to Vance, thousands of people signed up to participate in the trial. The company then selected one person to receive the brain chip in late January. Musk said the patient is doing well and is moving a computer mouse around the screen with his mind.

'Allowing you to control your phone, computer, and almost any device with just your thoughts ,' Musk wrote on X last month. 'Initial users will be people who have lost the use of their limbs. Imagine Stephen Hawking communicating faster than a human can type. That's the goal.'

Neuralink released a video of Pager the monkey playing a game after implanting a brain chip, without the need for traditional control devices in 2021.

Why does Musk want to merge the brain with AI?

According to VOX , Neuralink is the answer to a big fear: AI will take over the world. This fear is growing with the prospect of intelligent machines being able to fool humans and take over the world. Last March, thousands of people, including Musk, also signed a letter calling for a halt to the development of AI systems more powerful than OpenAI's GPT-4 for at least six months.

Musk is not alone in sounding the alarm about AI, but experts say the billionaire is taking concrete steps to avoid the risks. His basic plan: If you can't beat AI, join it.

In fact, in Musk's view, a key part is the ability to think and communicate at the speed of AI. Musk is said to be obsessed with the concept of bandwidth - the speed at which computers can read information from the human brain. This is also the idea that has led him to accelerate research progress on Neuralink. Neuralink's initial implant was introduced with 1,024 electrodes, but now there are thousands of electrodes. According to the Independent , the more electrodes, the more neurons the system can "listen" to, thereby receiving more data. This is also what Musk is aiming for in improving the speed of brain-computer data.

According to Hirobumi Watanabe, who led Neuralink's endovascular research team in 2018, the company's obsession is maximizing bandwidth. "Neuralink's goal is to create more electrodes, more bandwidth, so that this interface can do more than what other technologies can do ," Watanabe told VOX .

Watanabe also said Neuralink's ambition to seamlessly merge with machines could allow humans to do everything and remember forever. "That forms the company's dual mission: to create a universal brain-computer interface to restore autonomy to patients today and unleash human potential tomorrow ," Watanabe said.