Elon Musk has said his new Neuralink brain chip will allow users to listen to music by sending it directly to their brain.
The SpaceX and Tesla boss has set out on his new venture, which involves a brain-computer interface that will have a number of functions.
Neuralink is his new tech start-up, and he’s drip-fed us some information on Twitter over recent days.
When replying to computer scientist Austin Howard, Musk confirmed that the technology he is working on will allow people to ‘listen to music directly from our [Neuralink brain] chips’.
He also stated that Neuralink ‘could help control hormone levels’, saying that this could be used to our advantage for things including ‘enhanced abilities and reasoning and anxiety relief’.
Neuralink was founded in 2016 and has only held one major public presentation about how the technology will actually work, with more information expected on 28 August.
At an event held in 2019 though, Musk said that his new firm is working on what he called a ‘sewing machine-like’ device.
Doesn’t really sound like something I’d like in my brain.
But Musk said the device provides a direct connection between a chip that would be inserted in the brain and a computer.
It’s said the technology could be initially used to help those with brain diseases including Parkinson’s, but the aim would be to allow humans to compete with advanced artificial intelligence.
Last week, another Twitter user asked more about its capabilities.
Pranay Pathole tweeted: “Can Neuralink be used to retrain the part of the brain which is responsible for causing addiction or depression? It’d be great if Neuralink can be used for something like addiction/ depression.”
Musk replied: “For sure. This is both great and terrifying. Everything we’ve ever sensed or thought has been electrical signals. The early universe was just a soup of quarks and leptons. How did a very small piece of the universe start to think of itself as sentient?”
He said that having it fitted would be like having laser eye surgery.
The firm must be having a recruitment drive because over the weekend he made a request for anyone who has expertise in wearables to consider joining the company.
He tweeted: “If you’ve solved hard problems with phones/ wearables (sealing, signal processing, inductive charging, power management, etc.), please consider working at [Neuralink].”
Trials on the new technology have already started on animals, with human trials scheduled to happen later this year, although it’s not been made public exactly when.
More information is set to be announced on 28 August.
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