Neuralink has successfully implanted a wireless brain chip in a human patient, billionaire owner Elon Musk has revealed.

Musk shared this major milestone on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. He stated that the patient is currently in the process of recovery and that the initial results from the implanted chip indicate a neuron spike detection, which Musk describes as a promising sign.

The US Food and Drug Administration gave the green light to Neuralink in May 2023 to commence a six-year human trial, during which a robot is used to surgically implant ultra-fine threads onto the brain. Neuralink began recruiting patients for this in-human clinical trial later in the same year.

Neuralink aims to connect human brains to computers for various potential applications. For instance, Musk said in another tweet that his company’s first product would be called Telepathy, which can aid individuals with quadriplegia by allowing them to control devices using their thoughts.

It was only in 2020 that Neuralink unveiled to the public a prototype of its brain implant. Then in 2021, Neuralink livestreamed on YouTube a monkey that received a brain implant to play a Ping Pong game using its thoughts.

Neuralink has not been without controversy. Reports emerged regarding animal cruelty during testing procedures, an allegation that Musk denies. In a September 2023 tweet, he claimed the monkey selected for the early implant trials were already terminally ill and did not die as a result of the implants.

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