Musk hosted the live demo to show how the brain implants can be surgically added to a live subject without any detriment to their health. ‘They’re healthy and happy, and indistinguishable from a normal pig,’ he said.
The Dorothy pig (Credit: Neuralink) Elon Musk demoed his latest efforts to let you control a computer with your brain by showing a pig fitted with implants. The pig was part of a Friday demo from Neuralink, a company Musk started to create the upcoming brain-to-computer interface. The hog, named Gertrude, happily roamed its feeding pen, eating food, even as an implant had been placed inside the animal’s snout. The implant itself contains hundreds of tiny threads —each smaller than a human hair— to act as electrodes, which can detect brain signals. In the case of the Gertrude, Neuralink is using the implant to read the pig’s neural activity as the animal performs certain actions, like smelling, eating and walking. SEE ALSO: Facebook Sues 2 Companies Over Fake Instagram Likes, Data Collection “Whenever she shuffles around and touches something with her snout that sends out neural spikes, which are detected here,” said Musk, who later added: «She’s had the implant for two months.» The Gertrude pig. (Credit: Neuralink) Another pig, named Dorothy, was also shown. The porker previously had an implant, but Neuralink removed it to show the animal remains completely fine, despite the past surgery. “What Dorothy illustrates is you can put in the Neuralink, remove it, and be healthy and happy, and indistinguishable from a normal pig,” Musk said. Musk introduced his “little pigs” demo to show how the implants can be surgically added to live subject without any detriment to their health. The same implants are also sturdy, and can continue function, even though the pigs are often running around and head-butting each other. His company has also been experimenting with not one, but two implants, in a trio of pigs. “We’ve been able to show you can have multiple Neuralinks implanted, and again, they’re healthy and happy, and indistinguishable from a normal pig,” Musk said.
