A Reuters report alleges that billionaire Elon Musk’s brain-chip company Neuralink has been slow to make progress. Meanwhile, four people familiar with the matter also told the news outlet that Musk reached out to the founder and chief executive of Synchron — another brain chip implant developer — to discuss an investment opportunity.
It’s unclear what this deal would mean for Neuralink and Synchron as of now, but the latter is already ahead in the game. Synchron began human trials last month, reportedly implanting “a 1.5-inch device into the brain of an ALS patient at Mount Sinai West medical center in New York,” per Insider.
According to Reuters, this news comes after Musk “expressed frustration to Neuralink employees over their slow progress.”
Where they are in the process right now is unknown, but Musk, in a tweet on Monday, promised a “progress update show & tell on October 31st,” coinciding with Halloween.
His company, founded in 2016, held demonstrations of the technology working on pigs and monkeys in 2020 and 2021, according to CNET.
One of Neuralink’s goals is to allow humans to directly connect and interact with computers through the brain rather than using a screen, mouse or keyboard. But as of late, Musk has been open to the possibility of using the technology to help people with disabilities.
Meanwhile, Synchron’s main goal is to help patients with paralysis.