In 2024, Neuralink successfully implanted its first brain chips, with Elon Musk predicting “hundreds of millions” of recipients within 20 years. He believes AI’s rapid growth will drive demand for human augmentation.
Elon Musk: Hundreds of millions of people could have Neuralinks in the future.
Lex Fridman: “Do you think there will be a world in the next couple of decades where hundreds of millions of people have Neuralinks?”
Elon: “Yeah, I do. If it's extremely safe, and you can have… pic.twitter.com/PN7suBzMpn
— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) January 12, 2025
The first patient, Noland Arbaugh, a quadriplegic, used the chip to play games and control devices with his mind. Though his performance initially declined, Neuralink adjusted its algorithm to restore functionality. A second patient, “Alex,” is now designing 3D objects using CAD software.
Why Neuralink is the most important company this decade!@neuralink is delivering life-changing value to humanity and is at an inflection point as goes from being a technology in the lab to people’s homes this year.
As an investor, we look for transformative innovations — where… pic.twitter.com/P4evc45t5V
— Apoorv Agrawal (@apoorv03) December 12, 2024
Neuralink has refined its implantation process to improve stability and aims to enhance digital control for people with disabilities. Musk envisions recipients outperforming pro gamers within two years by dramatically increasing brain-computer data speeds. Whether this becomes reality remains to be seen.
Update about the second Neuralink device in a human.
If all goes well, there will be hundreds of people with Neuralinks within a few years, maybe tens of thousands within 5 years, millions within 10 years, … https://t.co/opy1xj5JgF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2024