What Is Elon Musk's Neuralink Challenge and Would You Join?
Implanting chips in our brains isn't as far-fetched as it once was. Soon, we might just be able to control computers and devices with our nervous system and brains. It is also thought of as a solution for persons with disabilities to live their lives more normally.
The last time we checked with Elon Musk's startup Neuralink, it was in testing. In January, a 30-year-old man by the name of Noland Arbaugh was the first and only person to get a Neuralink N1 implant. It would allow him to move cursors and even play video games. A second person will be doing so again this June. According to Musk, they're planning on having 10 people test the implant out by the end of the year.
I took a look at the Neuralink compression challenge.
The data has a bunch of noise, so 200x compression isn't possible, at least according to any method I'm aware of.
But if you truncate to 4 bits you cut off the noise and if you subsample from 20 kHz to about 400 Hz (I used… pic.twitter.com/lLrCk6PzSb— Casey Handmer, PhD (@CJHandmer) May 28, 2024ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
Of course, obstacles abound. This brings us to Musk's latest challenge. Brain signals and computer inputs don't sound like they go together. The trouble with Neuralink is that the implant generates more or less 200 times more brain data per second than it can even transmit. Musk is now asking the public to help them send the data in a more compressed, err, file.
The game, called the Neuralink Compression Challenge, says that the solution should run in real-time and at low power.
Long-term, it is possible to shunt the signals from the brain motor cortex past the damaged part of the spine to enable people to walk again and use their arms normally
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024
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Neuralink had even released footage of raw brain recordings from a monkey playing games. He would control "MindPong." The demo was released about three years ago.
Skepticism, nevertheless, has been omnipresent throughout the project. Musk has been criticized for potentially dangerous technology that can't be replicated on larger scales. He has also been accused of speeding testing. This means that more animals are needlessly killed, according to experts and advocates. Still, a probe by the United States Department of Agriculture found no evidence of such abuse or welfare atrocities.
Interestingly, brain implants have been around since 2004. The first person to have one installed in their brain was a man with paralysis, done by the company Cyberkinetics. This would allow him to control computers.
