Enlarge / Precision’s Layer 7 Cortical Interface array. (credit score: Precision)
Work towards brain-computer interfaces has by no means been extra charged. Although neuroscientists have toiled for many years to faucet immediately into human ideas, current advances have the sphere buzzing with anticipation—and the involvement of 1 polarizing billionaire has drawn a brand new degree of consideration.
With competitors amping up on this area, Ars spoke with Ben Rapoport, who’s a neurosurgeon, electrical engineer, and co-founder of the brain-computer interface (BCI) firm Precision Neuroscience. Precision is on the forefront of the sphere, having positioned its BCI on the brains of 14 human sufferers thus far, with two extra scheduled this month. Rapoport says he hopes to no less than double that variety of human contributors by the top of this yr. In actual fact, the 3-year-old firm expects to have its first BCI in the marketplace subsequent yr.
Along with the swift progress, Precision is notable for its divergence from its competitor’s methods, specifically Neuralink, probably the most high-profile BCI firm and headed by Elon Musk. In 2016, Rapoport co-founded Neuralink alongside Musk and different scientists. However he did not keep lengthy and went on to co-found Precision in 2021. In earlier interviews, Rapoport recommended his cut up from Neuralink associated to the problems of security and invasiveness of the BCI design. Whereas Neuralink’s gadget goes deeper into the mind—attempting to listen in on neuron indicators with electrodes at shut vary to decode ideas and supposed motions and speech—Precision is staying on the floor, the place there’s little to no danger of damaging mind tissue.
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