It's unclear what caused the retraction or how many threads have become displaced.

The first invasive brain chip that Neuralink embedded into a human brain has malfunctioned, with neuron-surveilling threads appearing to have become dislodged from the participant’s brain, the company revealed in a blog post Wednesday.

It’s unclear what caused the threads to become “retracted” from the brain, how many have retracted, or if the displaced threads pose a safety risk. Neuralink, the brain-computer interface startup run by controversial billionaire Elon Musk, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Ars. The company said in its blog post that the problem began in late February, but it has since been able to compensate for the lost data to some extent by modifying its algorithm.

  • Raxiel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    791·
    6 months ago

    Have they tried firing most of the neurons, keeping only the most hardcore?

  • Grass@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    598·
    6 months ago

    I can’t believe anyone willingly got this after the monkey testing thing. They have to be taking advantage of people not fit to make decisions for themselves.

    • CaptDust@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      763·
      6 months ago

      The patient became quadriplegia in a car accident, I wouldn’t call it unfit for decisions but definitely someone desperate to find a sense of normalcy.

      • JJROKCZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
        332·
        6 months ago

        Guy has nothing left to lose really, I don’t blame him for taking this risk considering I would strongly consider it myself were I in his situation

        • slaacaa@lemmy.worldEnglish
          101·
          6 months ago

          Yes, unfortunately this is the case. In an article I read the guy was able to pay chess and Age of Empires with his thoughts and the chip, quite impressive tech indeed, it’s just that you absolutely cannot trust anything near Musk

        • TheDarksteel94English
          32·
          6 months ago

          The only thing he could lose is only a few important brain functions, if something truly does go wrong. Nothing major. /s

          • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            6 months ago

            I mean, in that position I’d probably be willing to gamble with my life. Not with Musk involved, but if there was a similar opportunity without his involvement. It would be an honorable death, too, as long as it didn’t result in a halt on the research.

            If I could fully trust the ones doing it, there is a certain % of death risk I’d be willing to take as a healthy person once the tech is more mature. The possibilities of such technology are endless, especially as the tech becomes more interactive rather than just observing and acting on those observations. I’m not sure if I’d want to live in the Matrix, but I’d love to at least visit it or play VR games based on that tech. Altered Carbon would be interesting, too.

            • beebarfbadger@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              6 months ago

              Sure, the possibilities are endless, so the first thing we’ll get that has any research money and effort put into it is how to turn it into an advertising platform and then maximally enshittifying it as soon as there’s a market share to speak of.

              • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
                3·
                6 months ago

                Yeah, that “if I could trust it” is pulling a lot of weight there. Like I decline fucking website cookies. Tech like that has way more invasive potential. Maybe they wouldn’t even need to advertise and could directly make you just buy things or give them free labour. You’d just need a module to make a person act like a normal happy person and then with that could potentially do anything “under the hood” without being detected. The possibilities are endless in the dystopian direction, too. Realistically, “if I could trust it” isn’t a requirement that can be met.

                • beebarfbadger@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  3·
                  6 months ago

                  Oh, they’d never do anything as sinister as that. That may still be illegal (if the ultra-rich lobbying hasn’t taken care of that obstacle by that point).

                  Instead, they’ll just make sure that whatever essential core service they’ve built a monopoly in by just muscling the poorer competitors out of the race will cease to be offered to you if you refuse to hand all your money over to them.

                  See also: insulin, hospital treatment, etc. This is just a new playing field to find old prey in.

      • Grass@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        11·
        6 months ago

        Not many options I guess. Sucks to have to gamble on the crazy billionaire with a lot of faulty shit.

      • Psythik@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        Wait, is that what these brain chips are for? Well now I can’t hate on them as much as I used to if they’re meant to help people learn how to walk again. I thought it was just supposed to help you process thoughts more quickly or something, like a math coprocessor in an old 90s PC.

      • over_clox@lemmy.worldEnglish
        57·
        6 months ago

        I thought the goal was to reconnect the brain to the spinal cord though.

        But dude is still stuck in a wheelchair, and so far it’s basically been just a fancy experimental mouse cursor? Installed in his brain? And already failing?..

        • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          251·
          6 months ago

          Watching his videos he’s a clever snd self aware guy more than capable of thinking for himself. Hate Elon but you don’t need to shit on the disabled by acting like being in a wheelchair means you can’t think for yourself

          • over_clox@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            6 months ago

            You totally missed my point. I wasn’t shitting on the disabled fella at all. I was 100% shitting on the Neuralink chip, which is supposedly being developed and promoted as a way of fixing paralysis.

            The fact that the man is still in a wheelchair means that Neuralink has achieved 0% of it’s ultimate intended goal. It’s just a fancy mouse cursor (and probably keyboard) so far.

            • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              6 months ago

              Science isn’t magic, nothing gets invented in a single iteration. Don’t let your hate for a single person blind you to reality, allowing someone who can’t control a mouse to do so is breathtaking. it’s not the first time it’s happened but it’s a big step forward and once testing and improvement stages have been completed we’ll hopefully see more fluid links to other movement tools and technologies such as llms which will allow people totally dependent on help to live their own lives.

        • CaptDust@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          9·
          6 months ago

          I don’t really keep up with Elon moon shits, but I think the idea is to substitute the brains neurological commands. Research is still on the “read” stage, like knowing what information the brain is requesting. Eventually neurolink will also need to discover how to relay those signals back to the nervous system in a way it understands, engaging muscles and such, effectively rebuilding the bridge that was damaged. Or robot legs or whatever, but the key is first getting the information into a format they can act on. But I’m not smart, this is just how I understood it.

          • over_clox@lemmy.worldEnglish
            82·
            6 months ago

            And they already killed how many monkeys testing this stuff? Last I heard was that they tested 15 monkeys or so, and 13 of them ended up dying or having to be euthanized after only a few months.

            They already admitted they had problems with their brain electrodes corroding after a few months or so…

            I like to keep my noodle intact thank you very much. Even if I was a vegetable, I wouldn’t want a chip in my head that’s known to have corroding wires.

            • vrek@programming.devEnglish
              141·
              6 months ago

              See the corroding part scares me. Actual electrodes planted in the brain should never corrode. The company I work for actually makes brain implants(no, not nueralink) so I know it’s possible.

              That stuff is EXPENSIVE though … So he must of cheaped out with a cheaper metal and that’s why it corroded.

              • over_clox@lemmy.worldEnglish
                8·
                6 months ago

                Indeed. Hell, I’m no expert in the field, but haven’t they had reliable Parkinson’s brain implant devices for decades?

              • philycheeze@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                4·
                6 months ago

                Well that’s the main issue isn’t it? It’s not that the idea is bad, it’s all the cut corners on safety and quality. Same reason I won’t be getting into one of Elons cars or rockets.

              • JJROKCZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
                3·
                6 months ago

                I hope he chose to cheap on monkeys because they’re viewed as expendable in the eyes of many, and hope he actually used the good stuff on people.

                He’s the type of psycho to say no to expensive implants on the monkeys because they’re “just monkeys”

    • MeanEYE@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      6 months ago

      I can believe people took up on this offer. As the saying goes drowning man will reach for straws. Issue is they probably oversold reliability and safety.

  • MuchPineapples@lemmy.worldEnglish
    493·
    6 months ago

    I don’t know which company I would trust developing my brain implant, but it sure as hell isn’t Tesla. Their software and hardware history is less than stellar.

    • tektite@slrpnk.netEnglish
      151·
      6 months ago

      It’s ok, there’s still other companies to choose from. Twitter can develop your brain implant instead!

      • beebarfbadger@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        Have you considered upgrading to the Ultra Premium Deluxe Version? For just 99.99- a month, you can actually use what you bought!

      • beebarfbadger@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        It’s fiiiiine, I wouldn’t want a stupid brain chip that’s NOT on fire anyway. Looks much cooler and I bet that’s just how Daddy Elon planned it to be.

    • el_abuelo@lemmy.mlEnglish
      31·
      6 months ago

      For stellar technology you need to go to SpaceX. You’ve been shopping at the wrong Musk store.

      • Emerald@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        6 months ago

        Musk store

        Welcome to the Musk store! Go over to customer service and get your brain implant. Then you can start shopping and your Neuralink will know what items you put in your cart. The most convienent shopping experience ever! Just don’t shoplift, we’ll know.

      • CuttingBoardEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        Will Yankee Candle Company have a delightful smelling implant for me? Hmmm I wonder what Cracker Barrel will come up with. The future is here, and it smells amazing.

  • Thrashy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    23·
    6 months ago

    Well, that’ll happen if you don’t take your Neuropozyne. Their test subject should have budgeted for that before getting augmented.

  • TacticsConsort@yiffit.netEnglish
    102·
    6 months ago

    Well… that’s probably the most expected thing to ever be expected. It was never a matter of ‘if’, it was a matter of when.

    • Alimentar@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Through consent. The guy probably either has terminal illness and is happy to contribute to research or is completely paralysed, that an operation like this could benefit both parties.

      It’s an agreement and I’m sure the risks are expressed to the individual.