HardwareElon Musk’s Neuralink has stuck a device in someone’s brain and he’s already talking up its theoretical uses: ‘Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareElon Musk’s Neuralink has stuck a device in someone’s brain and he’s already talking up its theoretical uses: ‘Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The first patient to receive a brain-computer implant fromNeuralinkis doing well after the procedure, company founder and billionaire Elon Musk has said onX.
The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well.Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.January 29, 2024
The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well.Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.January 29, 2024
“Our brain-computer interface is fully implantable, cosmetically invisible, and designed to let you control a computer or mobile device anywhere you go,” Neuralink says of its implant on its website.
Neuralink’s BCI is called Telepathy, and Musk says that the first wave of users that the company is targeting with the product are those that have lost the use of their limbs. Scrolling through Musk’s X account doesn’t leave me with the utmost faith in his ability to spearhead this important technology, though Neuralink is not the only company investigating BCIs.
Neuralink offers this mock-up on its website of a mobile app that would connect to one of its BCI implants.(Image credit: Neuralink)

Virtual reality(Image credit: Valve)Best VR headset: which kit should you choose?Best graphics card: you need serious GPU power for VRBest gaming laptop: don’t get tied to your desktop in VR
Virtual reality
(Image credit: Valve)Best VR headset: which kit should you choose?Best graphics card: you need serious GPU power for VRBest gaming laptop: don’t get tied to your desktop in VR
(Image credit: Valve)

Best VR headset: which kit should you choose?Best graphics card: you need serious GPU power for VRBest gaming laptop: don’t get tied to your desktop in VR
Another billionaire in favour of BCI technology may come as a surprise to some. It’s Gabe Newell, the founder and CEO of Valve. Newell has said previously thatBCI implants could lend to a future of gaming that is superior to reality, and has confirmed that Valve is working on BCI software.
Gamers will be no stranger to the concept of BCIs, however. They’re central components to skill trees from many games in the past few decades, including Cyberpunk 2077 and thelate-great Deus Ex series. Though neither of those two series’ writers looked too fondly on the whole neural-computer mash-up. In fact, both games have humans succumbing or abusing this technology as a central component of the storyline.
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Nevertheless, there are clear benefits to a BCI when used alongside technologies intended to improve the freedom, quality of life, or mobility of those with disabilities. So, let’s start with that and see where we end up.
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More about hardwareIf you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo videoIs the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►
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If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video
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Palestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 Nakba
Piranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’
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