Elon Musk’s Neuralink company set to implant AI chips into the brain ‘within a year’
Eccentric entrepreneur Elon Musk says his AI brain implant experiment ‘will fix anything that’s wrong with the brain’ when it merges man and machine a lot sooner than predicted.
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Eccentric entrepreneur Elon Musk has claimed his start-up company Neuralink will be implanting AI-brain chips into humans “within a year”.
Musk says the chip would be implanted directly into the skull and that it would interface with parts of the human brain.
Speaking on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, billionaire Musk believes the implanted chip “could, in principle, fix anything that’s wrong with the brain”.
“There’s still a lot of work to do,” he said.
“We’ve probably got a shot at putting it in a person within a year. We have a chance of putting input in one end, having them be healthy, and restoring some functionality that they have lost.”
Musk said the initial aim of the implanted chips would be to repair lost brain functionality, including restoring hearing, eyesight and the movement of limbs. It could also be used to repair diseases of the brain, such as restoring the memories of Alzheimer’s patients.
The device would be implanted into the brain to enable electrodes to interface with it.
Musk said the neural stimulation that would reach the brain would be akin to “kicking a TV”.
“It’s like a bunch of circuits and those circuits are broken,” Musk said.
The implant, which has a diameter of 2cm would be implanted into the brain by removing a section of the skull.
He shot down suggestions the human body would reject such a procedure.
“There is a very low potential risk for rejection,” he said.
“People put in heart monitors and things for epileptic seizures, deep brain simulation, artificial hips and knees that kind of thing.
“It’s well known what is a cause for a rejection or not.”
Musk claimed we were already part ‘cyborg’ because of our reliance on electrical devices such as smart phones.
It was Musk’s second appearance on the popular podcast after he appeared to smoke cannabis during his first slot on the show in September 2018.
MUSK’S CURIOUS NAME FOR NEW CHILD
The ever-colourful tycoon Elon Musk has once again gone about doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way – posting a photo of his newborn son complete with a face tattoo filter featuring the words “savage” and “moody”.
Musk and girlfriend singer Grimes welcomed their first child together Monday, with Musk claiming the baby’s name is X Æ A-12 after a twitter user urged him to share the baby’s name.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2020
It was not immediately clear if the new dad Musk was having fun with his followers with this tweet, which could be partially inspired by one of the songs from 32-year-old Grimes’ last album – 4ÆM.
The announcement comes just days after Musk declared the US “fascist” for COVID lockdowns and after his Tesla company’s share price tumbled after he tweeted that it was “too high”.
X Æ A-12 is Grimes’ first child, while Musk and ex-wife author Justine Wilson have five sons, twins Griffin and Xavier and triplets Damian, Saxon and Kai.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2020
Musk’s photo of his new son featured a close-up shot of his son’s face with a tattoo filter that had words like “savage” and “moody” written on the baby’s face. The would-be Space-X rocket man joked in a separate tweet, “Never too young for some ink haha”.
Musk, 48, then shared a second photo of himself holding and looking down at his son at the hospital, while the newborn smiled.
Musk announced on Monday that Grimes, 32, had given birth with a tweet that said, “Mom and baby all good.”
Musk and Grimes started dating in 2018 after meeting online and bonding over a joke Musk had planned to tweet about artificial intelligence – but discovered Grimes had already made.
TESLA SHARES TANK AFTER MUSK SAYS THEY ARE ‘TOO HIGH’
Meanwhile, Tesla’s share price plummeted last week after tycoon Elon Musk tweeted that his own stock price “too high”.
Wall Street saw Tesla’s share price crash by more than 12 per cent at one point Friday.
Tesla stock price is too high imo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
Tesla shares were trading at nearly $A1200 before Musk made his comment – shortly after, they plunged to $A1100.
It came just days after Tesla reported a strong first quarter which saw the stock climb.
The tweet was one of a series of posts by Musk, including that he was going to sell most of his possessions. He also demanded that people be given “their FREEDOM” as he tweeted the words to the US national anthem in a bizarre series of posts.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has cautioned Musk in the past about tweeting about the company’s stock, leading the tycoon to agree to submit his public statements about Tesla’s finances to legal counsel for vetting.
The agreement came after Musk’s famous tweet in August 2018 saying he wanted to take Tesla private at $A650 per share and that he had secured the funding to do so. Shares skyrocketed, trading was halted and volatility followed. Shareholders claimed they were misled and a federal judge decided in early April that Tesla and Musk have to face suit over the tweets.
Musk’s massive public profile has been even higher lately as he has railed against “fascist” COVID lockdowns in the US and demanded government “give people back their goddamn freedom”.
He angrily denounced the stay-at-home orders on his company’s earnings call saying the orders are “forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights”.
“People should be outraged.”
An order in the San Francisco Bay Area forced Tesla to close the doors of its Californian plant on March 23 to help prevent the virus’ spread. The order has now been extended to the end of May.
YOUTUBE SLAMMED OVER COVID DEATH TOLL CLAIMS VIDEO
Musk and a host of critics slammed YouTube for pulling a video of two Californian doctors, Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi, who suggest COVID-19 death tolls are being boosted and urged lockdowns are lifted because they do more harm than good.
Musk had previously shared the clip and said “the docs make good points”.
Then on a conference call yesterday, Musk renewed his attack on the lockdown as he revealed how he did not know when they could resume production in his eclectic car plant.
The planned reopening of Tesla’s San Francisco-based US vehicle-assembly plant on May 4 looked doubtful, Bloomberg reported, with local authorities considering extending shelter-in-place orders.
He said: “I think the people are going to be very angry about this and are very angry.
“It’s like somebody should be, if somebody wants to stay in the house that’s great, they should be allowed to stay in the house and they should not be compelled to leave.
“To say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. “This is not democratic, this is not freedom.
“Give people back their goddamn freedom.”
The stay-at-home orders recommend that people only leave their homes for essential trips such as visiting the grocery store or pharmacy.
The lockdown came as Tesla’s California factory was ramping up production of its new electric crossover utility vehicle Model Y.
The vehicle was already contributing profits, marking the first time in the company’s history that a new vehicle is profitable in its first quarter.
Earlier this month, Tesla said production and deliveries of its sports utility vehicle were significantly ahead of schedule
But Musk said the state stay-at-home order was a “serious risk” to his business.
He said: “Frankly I would call it, forcibly imprisoning people in their homes, against all their constitutional rights … and not why people came to America or built this country, excuse me.”
Musk isn’t alone in calling for the economy to restart.
Thousands of demonstrators across the US have taken to the streets in more than a dozen states to demand stay-at-home orders be lifted.
Many were pictured apparently disregarding social distancing rules that health experts insist are critical to saving lives amid the deadly outbreak.
The President last week voiced his support for the protesters, calling them “very responsible people”.