Elon Musk’s Neuralink Shows Off Monkey With Brain Implant Playing Pong With Its Mind

Neuralink, the brain-implant startup founded by Elon Musk, has unveiled a new clip of a macaque monkey named Pager playing Pong with its brain. The firm intends to test its latest brain implant on human volunteers, but then, it had 9-Year-Old Pager playing the video game with its mind, moving a small dot on the screen with a joystick while sucking on a metal tube.

Neuralink unveiled a new clip of a macaque monkey named Pager playing Pong with its brain.

In the 3-minute clip shared on YouTube, Pager learned to control a computer with brain activity and even had used a joystick to interact with it. The narrator claims Pager had two Neuralink devices implanted in his brain. The devices named “Fitbit For Your Skull” were first revealed during a press briefing in August 2020.

The device documented information about neurons while Pager played the game and learned to predict the movements required.

The implant in Pager’s brain documented information about neurons while playing the game and learning to predict the movements required. “Soon, our monkey will be on Twitch & Discord.” Musk said on Twitter, referring to the well-known services where gamers stream their play for people to watch. 

 “Soon, our monkey will be on Twitch & Discord.” Musk tweeted.

Soon our monkey will be on twitch & discord haha

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2021

Pager learned to control/interact with a computer using his brain and a joystick.

Focusing on how neurons come together, the device monitored Pager playing the game using a normal controller. In particular, the monkey was rewarded with a banana milkshake delivered through a metal straw. After the device has gained adequate information about which neurons fire in response to different actions, it passes to Pager’s arm and fires the neurons directly to create the same on-screen responses. 

A monkey is literally playing a video game telepathically using a brain chip!!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2021

Signals from the device are sent to a computer, which later gets decoded and modeled against physical movements, prompting direct control of a cursor on the screen.

The device gained information about which neurons fire in response to different actions and then passes it to Pager’s arm and fires the neurons directly to create the same on-screen responses.

Similarly, Neuralink has unveiled enabling the usage of a smartphone connected to the brain implant through Bluetooth. “First @Neuralink product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs.” Musk had tweeted.

Neuralink has unveiled enabling the usage of a smartphone connected to the brain implant through Bluetooth.

First @Neuralink product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2021

He explained that later versions could shunt signals from Neuralinks in the brain to Neuralinks in body motor/sensory neuron clusters, thereby enabling, for instance, people with paraplegia to walk again. He added that the device is implanted flush with the skull & charges wirelessly. 

The firm intends to test its latest brain implant on human volunteers. However, Pager has two Neuralink devices implanted in his brain.

In March 2020, Musk had informed a Twitter User that he was working with the US Food and Drug Administration to get approval to start human trials in later 2021. On the other hand, the Neuralink device had in 2019 debuted, and progress appeared to have been made in the following year when pig implants were launched.  

Here’s The Picture-In-Picture Of Pager’s MindPong