The much anticipated revolutionary Neuralink demo finally happened, wherein we saw a pig outfitted with Neuralink’s device. The event was livestreamed on Youtube. During the demo, the company used Gertude, a pig that had the device recording signals from an area of the brain linked to her snout. She’d had the implant for two months at the time of the demonstration.
Gertude the pig was made to touch and sense a bunch of things and surrounding areas. And as and when the pig’s snout touched things, an array of dots and a series of noises could be seen and heard, suggesting that neuron activity is building up in that section of the brain. A large part of a pig’s brain is dedicated to its snout’s senses and touches, since it is their primary mode of sense.
So the demo in itself was pretty much that, but there is so much more to the technology that Neuralink has evolved since a similar demo last year.
For one, there is a massive design change that has happened. While the device that we were shown last year was much bigger and had to tucked under your ear, this new Neuralink device is much smaller. It is almost similar to the size of a coin and is surgically implanted inside the skull.
It is important to note though, that Neuralink isn’t giving us some never-seen-before tech. Brain implants have existed for a fairly long period of time. But what Neuralink does add to the tech, is its highly thin wires that are made of electrodes to pick up brain activity. There is great deal of engineering that has went into it, and Musk stated that being one of his prime objectives to achieve, with this company.
He said, “We’re not trying to raise money or do anything else, but the the main purpose is to convince great people to come work at Neuralink, and help us bring the product to fruition — make it affordable and reliable and and such that anyone who wants one can have one,”
