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Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant has some ATU students concerned for their future. On Jan. 29, Musk published a tweet regarding the first ever successful Neuralink implantation in a human brain.
“We have many, many, many hackers everywhere,” Alana Flenory, a senior communications major from Hope, Arkansas, said. She continued, “So who’s to say somebody can’t just download the app and go control somebody else and make their life a living hell?”
The Neuralink implant is inserted via surgical robot, and is comprised of 1024 electrodes distributed across 64 threads that are ultra thin. It is paired wirelessly to the Neuralink App on phones, and other electronics. The implant was originally designed to help those who don’t have usage of their limbs. It can also gather data to study and treat neurological disorders.
Amanda Holliday, a sophomore majoring in marketing from Bentonville, Arkansas, believes it is a good way to help the people who don’t have the ability to use computers and other technology. However, a large concern for students is regarding how accessible these implants will be in the future for everyday people.
“In a couple decades I could see everyone having them,” Holliday said. “It’s weird to think about everyone getting an implant just to control their computer, when they’re fully capable of doing it.”
Neuralink started enrollment for their clinical trials in May of 2023, and is still taking applicants. These trials are to determine the safety of the implant itself and the surgical robot. Flenory said she wouldn’t want to get the implant because it’s not able to be inserted by hand. The robot uses a needle thinner than a human hair to insert the threads into the cerebral cortex of the brain.
A poll taken by YouGov showed that only 8% of people would consider getting the implant if the technology moves past the experimental stage and is commercially sold. Would you consider receiving the Neuralink brain implant? For more information regarding the implant and status of the project, visit Neuralink.com.
