Yes, Elon Musk is at it again. The billionaire entrepreneur, engineer and visionary is undertaking another project that he thinks will play an important role in the future. Called “Neuralink”, a medical research company based in California is being led by Musk to develop a network between the human brain and Artificial intelligence in an effort to, eventually, enhance our cognitive abilities. A few years back, something like this would only be considered for the plot of a sci-fi movie. A boring and repetitive one to be at that. But with the resume the Musk has, he could be well onto something.
As a matter of fact, Neuralink is already up and running. After having hired top scholars in the field of neuroscience from institutions such as the University of California at Santa Fe and Boston University, Musk intends to present prototypes of his idea to us all. Of course trial and error is an essential part of the process since neural networks are one of, if not the most sensitive part of the human body.
Musk believes the future demands us humans to be more capable from a cognitive perspective as machines perpetually get smarter. While enhancing cognitive functioning remains the long term goal, it is highly likely that Neuralink will work on technology to help cure neural diseases like epilepsy. In case anyone is worried about robots taking over, Musk does term it as a “Partial brain interface”. It’s still not something we can expect to see in the next year or two. But, with the eagerness that this man brings to the tech industry, it can’t be too far.
