What makes Elon Musk's brain implant devices a double-edged sword

Neuralink's brain implant devices could cure paralysis and schizophrenia in humans, but concerns about privacy linger

In a Star Trek Voyager episode, the former Borg drone Seven of Nine suggests one of her crewmates replaces the habit of meditation with a “much more efficient cortical implant”. In the late 1990s, this was a funny science fiction meme. Last month, however, privately-held neuroscience research outfit, Neuralink announced it had permission from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct human trials of its brain implant devices.  

This led to a surge in the valuation of the privately-held company to $5 billion from an earlier $2 billion, as it raised new financing. Of course, given that one of the founders is Elon Musk, Neuralink has never had trouble finding investors. The other founders were seven scientists and only two of them are still with Neuralink.

The aim, according to the company’s mission statement, is to “Create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow.” Neuralink has designed a brain-computer interface (BCI) called Link. In another nod to science fiction, Musk also refers to this as a “neural lace”, a term borrowed from Iain M Banks’ marvellous Culture novels. 

The company claims “Our implant is fully implantable, cosmetically invisible, and designed to let you control a computer or mobile device wherever you go”. The Link is stitched onto the surface of the brain by a specialised robot, and connects to external electronics. Apart from the robot seamstress, the Link also has a novel electrode design and offers multi-channel monitoring and relays of neuron signals.

The Link has been demonstrated on monkeys (there are YouTube videos). Musk claims it could treat blindness, and paralysis, as well as depression, obesity, autism, and schizophrenia. Musk also says Neuralink will eventually create a “general population device” that connects to supercomputers and helps humans hook up with Artificial Intelligence (AI). He has also suggested that such a device could extract and store thoughts, as “a backup drive, your digital soul.”

Poetic imagery aside, researchers from the National University of Singapore, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Stanford University, have indeed trained AI to “read” images, as humans think. They put volunteers inside an MRI machine and recorded their brain waves while showing them pictures and then used the data to train algos, which can guess what the humans are “seeing” with 84 per cent accuracy.

Neuralink has called for volunteers with conditions like paralysis, blindness, deafness or speech impediments to get in touch. It could take many years and multiple trials before the Link is cleared (if ever) for commercial use.

Meanwhile, Neuralink is under investigation for possible animal-welfare violations, with multiple whistleblower complaints that its animal testing has been rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths. It is also under investigation for allegations that it may have transferred dangerous zoonotic viruses via the chips it implanted in animals and removed post-experiment.

Neuralink is not the only company experimenting with brain implants. This is cutting-edge R&D holding massive promise. There are perhaps a few hundred people using “neuromodulation devices,” which record or stimulate neural activity.

Neurons receive and generate electrical signals, and by recording and/ or modifying these, implants can do amazing things. They can decode brain signals and translate these into physical commands, and use electronic relays to type, use a mouse, control prosthetics to walk, etc. Patients with epilepsy can use implants that warn when an attack is imminent, enabling them to medicate, or safely sequester. It’s conceivable that a blind person may use BCI to connect to a camera and see – we already use implants to hear, for example.

Synchron’s implants allow paralyzed people to text and type. Blackrock Neurotech installs implants that allows paralysed people to control prosthetics. Precision Neuroscience has produced implants that help map locations of brain tumours. Paradromics is also trying to help patients with severe paralysis to communicate by deciphering their neural signals.

But apart from being physically invasive, there are possible privacy issues and other ethical issues with BCI. Enforced brain implants could be the ultimate dream scenario for an authoritarian regime, which wants to monitor what citizens think. A hacked BCI would also be the stuff of nightmares.  

While we do understand electrical signals, we don’t understand brain function that well. Implants can help researchers figure out more about the brain, and may help with a range of intractable conditions.

But R&D has to be handled with great thought given to potential downsides. While Musk is a great asset when it comes to raising money and imagining possible futures, nothing suggests he would be good at the sort of introspection that requires.

'Breakthrough Therapy'

The US FDA’s designation of “breakthrough therapy” is reserved for drugs or devices that may offer substantial treatment advantages over existing options to tackle serious diseases and conditions. The name is misleading since the drug or device may not actually work.

Most BCI research is cleared under this category. The classification is based on preliminary trials and leads to priority reviews for trials. Most BCI research and development is narrow-focus and looks to tackle one specific condition. Apart from alleviation of paralysis, or epilepsy, BCIs have led to better understanding of brain functions. Limited forms of “telepathy” may be possible as in the ability of AI algorithms to guess images as “seen” in the mind’s eye.  

Neuralink’s mission to develop a “general population device” that handles a broad spectrum of conditions and offers connectivity to generic computers and mobiles is ambitious. It is not “breakthrough” in the FDA sense because it envisages healthy, normal people would use implants and generate enhanced abilities by interfacing with computers. This would not necessarily be a one-way street in that a hacker could literally get into the heads of users.