You may feel like you're connected 24/7 to some sort of a computer, but Elon Musk is developing technology that may make that true.
Musk talked about Neuralink and the company's efforts to install a computer link directly inside the brains of users and make the procedure as safe and painless as LASIK, a popular eye surgery, The New York Times reported.
The newspaper said the device is a "sewing machine-like" robot that puts ultrathin connections in a user's brain. Doctors would have to drill holes into a patient skull to create the implant but eventually would like to use lasers.
The device has been tested on rats, MIT's Technology Review reported, but it may have been tested on monkeys too.
Musk said during a news conference, "A monkey has been able to control the computer with his brain. Just, FYI," Technology Review reported.
They plan to connect human subjects next year and would let humans communicate with computers very quickly, the Times reported.
The human trials depend on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval, Technology Review reported.
And while Musk has shared his lofty goals, and thrown $100 million behind the company and the device development, Neuralink officials admit they have a long way to go and wouldn't talk in detail about the work in public, the Times reported.
But the team says the device is "only intended for patients with serious unmet medical diseases" and patients with complete paralysis because of an injury to the upper spinal cord, Technology Review reported.
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