--- title: "Elon Musk Says He’ll Show Off Functional Neuralink Device This Week" description: "Elon Musk just cranked expectations for his brain interface startup even higher, tweeting plans to show off a \"working Neuralink device\" this Friday." date: "2020-08-26" modified: "2020-08-26" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-functional-neuralink-device" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "neuralink" - "neuroscience" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Says He’ll Show Off Functional Neuralink Device This Week ![Elon Musk just cranked expectations for his brain interface startup even higher, tweeting plans to show off a "working Neuralink device" this Friday.]() *\Image: Neuralink via YouTube\* ## Brain Tap We [already knew]() that eccentric billionaire Elon Musk was planning some sort of tech demo Friday for Neuralink, his much-hyped startup that's working on an interface between human brains and computers. Now, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO has cranked expectations even higher — tweeting early this morning that the event would be a "live webcast" of a "working Neuralink device." ## Mind Reader What that means, of course, is up to interpretation. In time, the company intends to interface with the human mind by attaching tiny electrode "threads" to the brain — but, even though Musk had previously suggested that clinical trials could kick off by the end of 2020, it seems unlikely that the company has already secretly implanted the device in a human. An image released by the company shows a woman with a white gadget fixed behind her ear. The most concrete clue Musk about Friday's event gave was that the company [will show off]() a new version of the robot meant to weave the threads into the brain. ## Great Expectations If a new robot is the entire reveal, it'd be something of a letdown, because Musk has set expectations sky high. "The profound impact of high bandwidth, high precision neural interfaces is underappreciated," he [tweeted]() back in February, for instnace. "Neuralink may have this in a human as soon as this year." To find out whether we're going to see anything like that, we're probably going to need to wait for Friday's event. **More on Neuralink:** [*Elon Musk Says Neuralink Will Stream Music Straight Into Your Brain*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()