WATCH: Monkey With Elon Musk’s Neuralink Implant Shows Ability To Communicate 'Telepathically'
In the video, Musk explained that the monkey with the brain implant used his mind to move the computer cursor to highlight keys to spell out what the computer program wanted him to write.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Wednesday showcased a video of a monkey with a brain implant demonstrating "telepathic typing". During a show-and-tell event of his neurotechnology company Neuralink, the footage reveals the monkey seemingly ordering some fruit using the technology by moving a cursor across a virtual keyboard, according to the British daily The Independent.
In the video, Musk explained that the monkey used his mind to move the computer cursor to highlight keys to spell out what the computer program wanted him to write. Musk added that technically, the monkey can't actually spell, and he doesn't want to "oversell".
A Neuralink-trained monkey doing Telepathic Typing, using just his mind 🤯 @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/PUkFA9qpUi
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) December 1, 2022
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Musk pointed out that the demo shows how Neuralink implants could help people who were quadriplegic use their phones. He added that individuals with the brain chip "would be able to control their phone better than someone who has working hands."
Musk Address Concerns Of Activists
Musk also addressed concerns from an activist group over Neuralink's treatment of its monkey test subjects. The demo showed how the monkeys enjoy doing demos and they get the banana smoothies, Musk said.
"I guess the point I’m trying to make is that we care here about animal welfare," he stressed.
"It's important to show that Sake [the monkey] actually likes doing the demo and is not like strapped to the chair or anything," Musk said.
Ahead of the event, the animal rights group demanded Musk release details about the experiments on the monkeys, as per a Business Insider report.
Musk co-founded Neuralink in 2016 as a brain-computer interface company. The billionaire had earlier noted that the coin-sized Neuralink's chip devices designed to be implanted in the brain via a surgical robot could one day do anything from cure paralysis to give people telepathic powers, referring to the device as "a Fitbit in your skull."
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