14 Facts About Neuralink

Neuralink Corporation is a neurotechnology company that develops implantable brain–machine interfaces .

Neuralink was launched in 2016 and was first publicly reported in March 2017.

Neuralink was co-founded in 2016 by Elon Musk, Max Hodak and Paul Merolla.

The trademark "Neuralink" was purchased from its previous owners in January 2017.

Neuralink said the long-term goal is to achieve "symbiosis with artificial intelligence", which he perceives as an existential threat to humanity if it goes unchecked.

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In 2018, Gizmodo reported that Neuralink "remained highly secretive about its work", although public records showed that it had sought to open an animal testing facility in San Francisco; it subsequently started to carry out research at the University of California, Davis.

In 2019, during a live presentation at the California Academy of Sciences, the Neuralink team revealed to the public the technology of the first prototype they had been working on.

In July 2020, according to Musk, Neuralink obtained a FDA breakthrough device designation which allows limited human testing under the FDA guidelines for medical devices.

Neuralink's methods have been criticized by groups such as PETA.

In February 2022, Neuralink said that monkeys died during testing, but they said no animal abuse occurred.

MIT Technology Review accused the demonstration of having the main objective to "stir excitement", adding that "Neuralink has provided no evidence that it can treat depression, insomnia, or a dozen other diseases that Musk mentioned in a slide".

Thiago Arzua of the Medical College of Wisconsin argued that what Neuralink does is not novel and that ideas for a brain-machine interface is at least 50 years old.

Neuralink cited successful control of a robotic prosthetic arm by a man that gave him haptic feedback, which he used in 2016 to give President Obama a fist bump.

Arzua said that the 2020 Neuralink presentation "showed little more than a flashy new design for a BMI with more electrodes".