Elon Musk’s Neuralink Reportedly Plans To Translate Thoughts Into Text With Brain Implant Device

Elon Musk’s Neuralink is reportedly exploring the use of its brain implant device to translate thoughts into text, aiming to enable people with speech impairments to communicate.

Bloomberg reported on Friday that Neuralink plans to launch a clinical trial in the U.S. in October for this purpose. The company also hopes to have its device in a healthy person by 2030, the report added. 

“We’re currently envisioning a world where in about 3 to 4 years, there will be someone who’s otherwise healthy who’s going to get a Neuralink,” the company’s president, DJ Seo, said at the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies in Seoul earlier this week, as reported by Bloomberg. Seo added that the company aims to initiate a new clinical trial to read speech from the brain, for which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted it an Investigational Device Exemption.

The exemption allows the company to start testing an unapproved device. Currently, there are no commercially available implants that read speech from the brain, Bloomberg noted. Neuralink is also working toward potential treatments for blindness and Parkinson’s disease, though it has yet to receive approval for any of its devices for commercial use.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for Neuralink was ‘extremely bullish’ amid ‘extremely high’ message volume.

Earlier this month, Neuralink announced that 12 people worldwide are now living with its N1 implant, collectively recording more than 15,000 hours of device use across 2,000 days. The N1 is designed for people with quadriplegia caused by spinal cord injuries or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Implanted through a surgical robot, the device enables users to move a computer cursor and interact with digital or physical tools solely through thought.

According to Bloomberg, the company plans to implant devices in 20,000 people per year by 2031. 

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