In 2016, when the world knew nothing about ChatGPT and self-driving technology was still in its infancy, a tweet from Elon Musk launched the story of a futuristic company—Neuralink. This experiment in merging technology with the human brain, which began with the first day OfficeMax sold chairs, has traversed the arduous path of entrepreneurship, animal experiments, and human clinical trials. Today, the company is using brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to enable paralyzed people to "move" again.
From a PhD student studying "neural dust" to the founder of Neuralink
Rewind to 2016, when Musk discussed the concept of "neural lace" on Twitter and began recruiting experts to explore the possibilities of brain-computer interfaces. At that time, he met Dongjin Seo, a PhD student researching a technology called "Neural dust," and soon after, he and a group of engineers co-founded Neuralink, aiming to create the world's first mass-produced, wireless, high-bandwidth brain-computer interface device.
At that time, the company didn't even have basic office furniture; on the first day of work, I had to buy my own chair. Although the start was difficult, the ideals were grand.
The ultimate goal of brain-computer interfaces: to break down the wall between "thought" and "device".
BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) is a technology that can "read" and "write" signals from the human brain. Its initial applications primarily focus on helping paralyzed individuals, especially those with spinal cord injuries or ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), allowing them to control mobile phones, computers, and even robotic arms simply by thinking. Neuralink's first product is named Telepathy, which literally means "telepathy."
From wired plugs to wireless implants: Neuralink's four-year hardware development
In its early stages, Neuralink started with wired implantable devices (with USB-C) and gradually moved towards wireless, miniaturized implantable chips. The "core" of the device is a coin-sized chip that can read neural electrical signals from the brain and then transmit them to external devices via Bluetooth.
Neuralink doesn't just make implantable devices; it also builds surgical robots from scratch. The first-generation prototype was even pieced together from eBay parts, but today this surgical robot can be used in actual human surgery.
From monkeys playing ping-pong to humans playing Civilization VI
In 2021, a video of a monkey named Pager playing the game "Pong" using its mind amazed the world. A few years later, the first human participant (codename P1) controlled a computer with his brainwaves after receiving an implanted device and played Civilization VI for nine consecutive hours.
Neuralink's applications extend beyond mouse cursors. Participants can use their brains to control a robotic arm to draw, and even rediscover the power of sound to interact with their families. For patients with advanced ALS, this technology allows them to play outdoors with their children and, for the first time, lets their children "hear their father's voice."
As of the end of 2024, 13 users had actually used Telepathy, using it for an average of more than 8 hours a day.
How can we expand from a user list of 13 to a waiting list of 10,000?
Despite existing clinical users, over 10,000 people are on the waiting list for telepathy. This puts immense pressure on device manufacturing capabilities, surgical procedures, and user support systems. Neuralink's long-term goal is to make this type of surgery as quick and accessible as LASIK – even possible during lunch breaks. The next-generation surgical robot, Rev 10, can reduce surgery time from an hour to just a few minutes, paving the way for large-scale implantation.
From a thousand channels to whole-brain connectivity
The current device can penetrate about 4 millimeters into the brain. If it can penetrate deeper in the future, it will be able to capture more neural signals and even restore more complex sensory functions, such as touch and vision. Neuralink is also developing a project called Blindsight, hoping to enable people who are aphasic, deaf, or blind to "speak, hear, and see" again in the future.
The ultimate goal is to establish a "Whole Brain Interface" to enable reading and writing of any region of the human brain, which will not only be used to rebuild functions but may even enable augmented cognition.
The profound knowledge hidden in small gadgets
Neuralink's implanted chip boasts thousands of neural readouts, but data compression and transmission remain major challenges. Raw data can reach speeds of up to 200 Mbps, while Bluetooth only offers 20 kbps bandwidth. Compressing the signal without compromising performance is crucial to the chip's design.
In addition, the device uses a wireless charging design, and many users charge it daily via the charging coil on the hat. Neuralink's ultimate vision is to develop a "charging pillow" that allows the device to be recharged while sleeping.
The technical challenge of converting brainwaves into a "mouse cursor"
The device reads changes in neural electrical potentials (spikes), processes them through a machine learning model, and then converts them into mouse cursor movement commands. The process includes:
Bluetooth pairing
Body movements correspond to brainwaves (body mapping)
Vernier calibration
Currently, new users can get started in about 15 to 20 minutes, but the biggest challenge is that the signal will "drift," causing the model's performance to deteriorate. Therefore, the team is actively developing an automatic calibration technology that does not require repeated calibration.
From video games to drawing: Creating a brand-new human-computer interaction interface
Users can currently play Halo, eat with a robotic arm, create computer graphics, and even engage in professional work through Telepathy. These functions are still in the testing and optimization phase, and will require extensive software support and ecosystem development in the future.
Neuralink adheres to vertical integration, completing almost everything internally, from chip manufacturing and robot design to surgical procedures and software platforms. This is also the key to its rapid iteration and breakthroughs in bottlenecks.
Neuralink currently has just over 300 employees, but it harbors ambitions to revolutionize the way humans connect with technology. Whether it's engineering practice, neuroscience, chip design, surgical automation, or user experience, each aspect remains an unsolved problem, which is precisely where developers, researchers, and innovators can truly shine.
This article, "How Neuralink Goed from an Empty Office to 'Mind Typing': A Complete Record of Brain-Computer Interface Startup," first appeared on ABMedia ABMedia .
