The Tesla and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk has claimed that his new pet project Neuralink chip will allow users to hear sounds that previously were impossible, at least to human ears. Previously, he also said that the chip would be able to stream music directly to the brain.
However, Musk didn't reveal how the chip will be able to achieve the function. Instead, he said that the neuroprosthetics will "extend the range of hearing beyond normal frequencies and amplitudes."
The company, which was founded in 2016, will produce the neuroprosthetics that will be able to help restore movements in people with a fully severed spinal cord. While that remains the target, the company has had only one major public announcement regarding its progress with another announcement scheduled for August 28.
Musk has often revealed the device's features in his tweets and different engagements. As per a research paper published last year, the chip will be implanted in the brain which will connect to a single USB-C cable to establish "full-bandwidth data streaming". To do that, a "sewing-machine like" device will "sew" threads to the chip.
If the device manages that, it could help millions of people with neurological disorders like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and so on. In addition to that, the chip could regulate hormone levels of the user and will be able to help in better reasoning skills and reducing anxiety. If the latter is achieved, it could be possible to eliminate depression. However, the chip is expected to take some time to come to the market as it is in the initial stages of development.
Power to Overcome AI
But the ultimate goal of Neuralink chip is to establish a connection between the brain and a computer to overcome the power of artificial intelligence (AI). Musk has often criticized the over-reliance on AI and the potential danger it poses. In 2016, Musk said humans could end up like "house cats" and warned of Google's DeepMind AI research laboratory. He has even predicted that AI could overtake humans in the next five years.
"My assessment about why AI is overlooked by very smart people is that very smart people do not think a computer can ever be as smart as they are. And this is hubris and obviously false," he said in an interview with the New York Times.
"We are headed toward a situation where AI is vastly smarter than humans and I think that time frame is less than five years from now. But that doesn't mean that everything goes to hell in five years. It just means that things get unstable and weird," he added.
