Elon Musk is well-known for his futuristic technology firms, such as the Tesla all-electric car company and SpaceX rocket programme. Now the billionaire (pictured above) is set to launch his most radical project to date.
"Musk's vision comprises of a 'digital layer' built into the brain that'll merge computers with our own grey matter," says Alphr.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
According to the BBC, Neuralink, which has recently been registered as a "medical research" firm, will "develop so-called 'neural lace' technology which would implant tiny electrodes into the brain".
It adds "the technique could be used to improve memory or give humans added artificial intelligence."
Sources close to Musk told the Wall Street Journal he has "taken an active role setting up the California-based company and may play a significant leadership role".Wired says he is "tapping into an incredibly timely and topical technology that is already being worked on by researchers across the globe".
He appears to be "taking on the more seemingly realistic and profitable challenge of symptom control", the site adds, "before venturing into total man-machine brain mergers."
However, a source claiming to be a founding member of the team told the WSJ the company was in an "embryonic" phase and that "plans are still in flux".
Musk himself confirmed the existence of Neuralink on his Twitter account this morning and said more details would be given "in about a week".
-
Trump’s Greenland ambitions push NATO to the edgeTalking Points The military alliance is facing its worst-ever crisis
-
Childhood vaccines: RFK Jr. escalates his warFeature The health secretary cut the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11
-
Jan. 6: Ultimately a success?Feature The White House website offers a revisionist history of the Jan. 6 coup attempt
-
Will regulators put a stop to Grok’s deepfake porn images of real people?Today’s Big Question Users command AI chatbot to undress pictures of women and children
-
Most data centers are being built in the wrong climateThe explainer Data centers require substantial water and energy. But certain locations are more strained than others, mainly due to rising temperatures.
-
The dark side of how kids are using AIUnder the Radar Chatbots have become places where children ‘talk about violence, explore romantic or sexual roleplay, and seek advice when no adult is watching’
-
Why 2025 was a pivotal year for AITalking Point The ‘hype’ and ‘hopes’ around artificial intelligence are ‘like nothing the world has seen before’
-
AI griefbots create a computerized afterlifeUnder the Radar Some say the machines help people mourn; others are skeptical
-
The robot revolutionFeature Advances in tech and AI are producing android machine workers. What will that mean for humans?
-
Separating the real from the fake: tips for spotting AI slopThe Week Recommends Advanced AI may have made slop videos harder to spot, but experts say it’s still possible to detect them
-
Inside a Black community’s fight against Elon Musk’s supercomputerUnder the radar Pollution from Colossal looms over a small Southern town, potentially exacerbating health concerns
