On February 20, Elon Musk said on social media **x that the first human patient implanted with the brain chip of the "Neural Connection" company successfully used his mind to control a computer mouse. In this regard, the British "Nature**" reported that some researchers believe that this is not a major innovation. At the same time, they questioned the security and confidentiality of the device.
Samael Shes, a neurosurgeon at Baylor College of Medicine in the United States, said the company "only shares what they want to make public" and that "there is a lot of concern in society about this".
Liu Shiping, chief scientist and researcher of brain science at the Shenzhen BGI Life Science Research Institute, said in an interview with science and technology ** reporters that the current brain-computer interface (BCI) technology is still in the initial stage of research, and for the sake of safety, participants should maintain an open and transparent research attitude.
The lack of transparency has been criticized.
Last August, two studies published in the journal Nature showed that artificial intelligence (AI) implanted in the brain in the form of high-performance BCI could decode brain signals and provide voices to people who had lost their natural ability to communicate. Nature reports that Neural Connections is expected to replicate some of these results soon, but it is difficult to estimate its progress due to limited information disclosure.
Neural Connections has also produced a surgical robot for implanting BCI devices into the brain. But the company has not confirmed whether the system was used in the first human implant surgery. In addition, although the company's volunteer recruitment brochure says that people who are quadriplegic for some reason "may be eligible (for recruitment)," there are few details about the first patient to receive a transplant.
Researchers believe that at this stage, what is more important is the safety of the device and the surgery. Although the procedure for "neural connections" has been published online**, nothing is known about the first clinical application of the system.
Fun Science reported that some scientists are upset by this lack of transparency. Sharing clinical trial information is important because it helps other researchers understand areas that are relevant to their research and can improve patient care.
Liu Shiping pointed out that the biggest concern is the current secrecy of the technology. BCI technical participants should maintain an open and transparent research attitude, not only for the safety of the research, but also for the common progress of the entire field.
"Drip leakage" disinformation.
Scientific American magazine reported that John Donohoe, a BCI expert at Brown University in the United States, said that he did not like Musk's practice of "dripping" information on social platforms little by little.
Citing researchers at the Hastings Center, a bioethics think tank, FunScience Network warned that Musk's "practice of publishing scientific information through press releases, while becoming more common, is not science." They advise not to rely on people who have a huge financial stake in the research results as the only information**. In addition, the "neural connection" private equity model can give rise to conflicts of interest. For example, in the event that the company ceases operations, the issue of patient welfare and support remains.
Liu Shiping said that judging the progress of the experiment by only one person's vague description as it is currently going to be detrimental to the development of the entire industry.
There is still a long way to go before a major breakthrough can be achieved.
Boru Ajiboye, a BCI researcher at Case Western Reserve University in the United States, believes that it is nothing new for humans to control the mouse with their minds. In 2004, the first person to receive long-term BCI implantation successfully did so, while non-human primates did so even earlier.
Data from a single neuron is also not required to perform such a task. Placed in the cerebral blood vessels, the New York-based BCI startup Synchron's device records the average firing of a population of neurons, and also enables mouse control and left-click functionalityEven an external, scalp-based recording system provides users with basic mouse control.
Liu Shiping said that the current contribution of "Neural Connection" in the field of BCI is worthy of recognition. However, he does not see the company's technology as a major breakthrough in BCI technology, as its hardware and software do not break through the existing BCI paradigm.
In layman's terms, their methods are still the same as before, but they are better than others in terms of engineering technology. The strength mentioned here is only relative, compared to the biological brain. Liu Shiping said, "The density and quantity of the company's hardware are still far from enough, and the efficiency of the software algorithm is even more different from that of the real brain." ”
Liu Shiping believes that an important factor limiting the development of BCI technology may also be the inability to understand how the brain works. Therefore, the real major breakthrough of BCI should be based on a breakthrough in the understanding of how the brain works, and then innovate the way BCI software and hardware work to make it more similar to the way the biological brain works.
*:Technology**.
Process edit: u028