Neuralink
Elon Musk has worried about machines taking over and feels we need to be prepared. He feels there are also ways we can improve our lives. That’s only if we can put technology to good use inside the brain itself. This fear led Musk along with Max Hodak and Paul Merolla to co-found Neuralink in 2016, but it was not officially launched until March 2017.
One important note here is that Elon Musk knows practically nothing about neuroscience. To his credit, he is not going around claiming to be a neuroscience expert. Of course, we know he does not know anything about the field because most of his claims about it have been refuted by proper neuroscientists.
The idea of Neuralink was understandable though because if nothing else the tech they work on could be helpful potentially for brain disorders. Since it launched, Neuralink has hired a ton of high-profile neuroscientists from top universities. In 2019, the company received $158 million in funding but $100 million of that was from Musk. That led to around 90 staff members being hired.
The company claimed to be working on a sewing machine-like device capable of implanting threads into the brain. At the time, they only worked on lab rats and expected human testing by 2020 but this was pushed off until 2022. The main issue Neuralink has faced is backlash from scientists that questioned a lot of Musk’s claims about Neuralink and its technology.