companies
Neuralink
Company hub for Neuralink's N1 implant, R1 robot, PRIME study, and later trials, with investigational claims kept separate from approvals.
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Neuralink is the brain-computer interface company in the Musk map. The public record that can be cited cleanly is the company’s own updates plus the trials it registered. An investigational implant is not a product for sale, and a participant story is not a clinical result for everyone.
Overview
Neuralink’s stated near-term goal, in its September 19, 2023 recruitment note and its April 12, 2024 progress note, is to let people with quadriplegia from spinal-cord injury or ALS control a computer. The company calls that capability Telepathy. The same April 2024 note says the longer aim is a general input-output platform for many brain regions. That longer aim is a company goal.
Musk role
Musk is the public founder and spokesman. His predictions about human-AI symbiosis are not the same thing as an FDA determination or a line in a trial registry. This page uses company posts and ClinicalTrials.gov records for the device facts.
Core products
Names below are the ones Neuralink uses for investigational hardware.
| Item | What the company says | Label |
|---|---|---|
| N1 Implant | Skull-mounted, wireless, rechargeable implant. 1,024 electrodes on 64 threads, each thinner than a hair. Signals go to an app that can move a cursor. Charged inductively by the N1 Charger. | Company device description, April 12, 2024 |
| R1 Robot | Inserts threads the company says cannot be placed by hand. | Company device description |
| PRIME Study | Early feasibility study of safety and initial function. | NCT06429735, sponsor Neuralink Corp, recruiting when checked |
| CONVOY | Participants already in PRIME, invited to try assistive devices such as a robotic arm. | NCT06710626, enrolling by invitation |
| GB-PRIME | U.K. early feasibility study at Newcastle and University College London hospitals. | NCT07127172, recruiting when checked |
| Blindsight | Company said on September 17, 2024 that FDA granted Breakthrough Device Designation for people with vision impairment. | Designation is not a marketing approval |
The PRIME registry record describes the study as a first-in-human early feasibility study in people with tetraparesis or tetraplegia, estimated enrollment 15, start date January 9, 2024, primary completion listed as June 2026. Those fields can change; re-read the registry before quoting them.
Major milestones
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| May 2023 | Company says FDA awarded an investigational device exemption to start a first-in-human study. | Recruitment note, Sept 19, 2023, looking back |
| Sept 19, 2023 | Recruitment opens after an IRB and the first hospital site approve. Eligibility called out: quadriplegia from cervical spinal-cord injury or ALS. | Same recruitment note |
| January 2024 | First human implant. Surgery at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Participant went home the next day, per the company. | April 12, 2024 update |
| May 8, 2024 | Company names the first participant, Noland Arbaugh, and reports thread retraction that cut the number of effective electrodes, then a software recovery. It reports cursor-control scores of 4.6 bits per second on the first research session and 8.0 later. | User-experience note |
| August 21, 2024 | Second participant, Alex, implanted at Barrow. Company says no thread retraction was seen in his case after surgical changes. | Second-participant note |
| Sept 17, 2024 | Breakthrough Device Designation announced for Blindsight. | Company note |
Detail and the limits on those participant stories are on the PRIME study page. The October 1, 2026 engineering update, with the company’s hours and cursor figures, is 50,000 hours. Mr. Musk’s October 16 sentence, “Neuralink will help millions of people,” is on that page. It is his post.
Claim rules
| Claim | Handling |
|---|---|
| “Telepathy,” cursor control, chess, CAD, games | Company-reported participant use. Not a labeled indication. |
| Bits per second and “world record” | Company measurement on its own task. Not an independent paper. |
| Thread retraction | Company-reported device behavior in the first participant. |
| FDA IDE, Breakthrough Device Designation | Regulatory steps. Not clearance to sell the implant. |
| Benefit to a future patient | The company prints that it does not guarantee a benefit from joining PRIME. |
Controversies
Animal-welfare and workplace allegations have been reported by major news organizations. This page does not restate those accounts, because a news recap without the underlying document would not meet the source rule. Until a regulator record, inspection, or court filing is linked, treat that reporting as Reported and unsettled here.
Sources
- Neuralink
- PRIME recruitment, September 19, 2023
- PRIME progress, April 12, 2024
- User experience, May 8, 2024
- Second participant, August 21, 2024
- Blindsight designation, September 17, 2024
- PRIME on ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT06429735
- CONVOY, NCT06710626
- GB-PRIME, NCT07127172
Related
- 50,000 hours, October 1, 2026 (checked Oct. 19, 2026). Company figures. The October 16 “millions” sentence is a quote-post
- PRIME study
- Companies
- AI strategy
- Risk tolerance
- Receipts