--- title: "Neuralink Ready to Start Letting Robots Implant Chips into Human Brains" description: "Elon Musk's Neuralink brain-computer interface company is apparently ready to begin its robot-assisted brain chip implantation." date: "2023-11-08" modified: "2023-11-08" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/neuralink-ready-human-implants" categories: - "Brain" - "Health & Medicine" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "elon musk" - "neuralink" - "rhesus monkeys" - "robot surgeon" --- # Neuralink Ready to Start Letting Robots Implant Chips into Human Brains ![Elon Musk's Neuralink brain-computer interface company is apparently ready to begin its robot-assisted brain chip implantation.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Elon Musk's Neuralink brain-computer interface (BCI) company is apparently ready to begin its robot-assisted brain chip implantation — despite widespread attention on the [gruesome fates that befell monkeys]() it experimented with early on. As [*Bloomberg* reports](), the company hasn't announced *exactly* when it plans to do its first implantation feautiring its [bespoke robot surgeon](), but Musk is pushing for it to be as soon as possible. One obstacle is because it still hasn't yet found its ideal volunteer, despite an apparent wellspring of interest stemming from its approval for human trials from the [Food and Drug Administration]() in May and subsequent announcement in September that it was [recruiting its very first human subjects](). Neuralink's prime candidate for its first implant would be someone under 40 who's paralyzed in all four of their limbs — and, of course, who is actually willing to have a chunk of their skull removed and replaced with the quarter-sized implant that will, the company hopes, be able to collect data from their brains. As Musk biographer Ashlee Vance points out in that *Bloomberg* story, thousands of people [have expressed interest]() in becoming the first person to get the Musk brain chip implanted in their heads. On the opposite end of the hype spectrum, however, is the unsettling recent spate of reports about the company's experiments on rhesus macaques, [many of which]() would become visibly distressed, attempt to hurt themselves, become severely ill, or straight up die after the implantation. Vance insists that during his visits to Neuralink's Fremont, California facilities, conditions are far better than one might expect from the recent spate of grisly reports about the horrific fates that befell the rhesus macaque monkeys — and that moreover, the company has emphasized all those terrible stories were from public records requests gleaned from Neuralink's earliest experiments. Per Vance's reporting, the monkeys at the Fremont facility — which he says are the same group he's seen over the past three years — are now in good health, with some having newer models implanted in their brains, a few being retired to sanctuaries, and just one having to be euthanized. Along with the computer games the monkeys play "when they feel like it" to assist in the mind-reading aspect of the experiments, the macaques also have large playpens full of toys and fake trees, the reporter explains, and they get to watch TV and listen to music, too. While the portrait Vance paints is indeed pretty adorable — albeit admittedly surreal — it's impossible to ignore the reports about what happened to the other Neuralink monkeys. As [*Wired* reported]() last month, the brain of one female macaque literally ruptured after the chip was implanted. Instead of euthanizing her when they realized what was happening, the UC Davis scientists who were experimenting on the primate on behalf of Neuralink instead left her alive to see what happened. After she died, an autopsy revealed that the chip had leaked fluid into the monkey's brain that caused it to become so inflamed, it protruded from the back of her skull. Neuralink claims, per *Bloomberg*, that this incident and all the others that have made for very unsettling reading in recent months were the result of human error rather than faults with the equipment itself. Whether or not that's true, it's very hard to "square away," as Vance puts it, the idea that soon, Neuralink will be having robots place its implants into humans so soon after all those terrifying tales dropped. But that may just be science in the age of Musk. "We can’t blow up the first three," Shivon Zilis, Neuralink’s director of special projects and the [mother of two of Musk's children](), told Vance in a reference to SpaceX's exploded Starships attemps. "That’s not an option here." **More on Neuralink:** [*Elon Musk Says Neuralink Tests Only on Terminally Ill Monkeys*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()