A monkey who plays the game just by thinking

Neuralink, an AI technology research company established by Elon Musk with the aim of fusion of humans and machines, released a video of a monkey with a Link chip embedded in the brain playing the game PONG with only thoughts. The chip communicates with the outside through Bluetooth and transmits brain activity data to an external receiver every 25ms of information acquired by 1,024 electrodes.

The data sent from the receiver is decoded to model a specific neural pattern and an ancestor of the monkey’s desired movement. At this time, by analyzing specific neural activity patterns that appear when the monkey moves the controller up or down, it predicts how the monkey tries to move the controller according to brain activity. In other words, you can read your thoughts.

In this experiment, data sent from the brain to the Pong system and what the monkey thinks is transmitted to the controller movement, allowing the monkey to play Pong just by thinking with his head. In the video, the monkey plays Pong using a joystick, but later you can see the monkey playing at will without a joystick anymore.

The technology for wirelessly transmitting data from brain electrodes to the outside is a research task that is considered essential for the development of brain-machine interfaces in the future. Therefore, for example, paralyzed patients due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ALS or spinal cord injury may be able to freely move their limbs, robotic prostheses, and prosthetic limbs, and may help improve the quality of life.

I can’t really understand if a monkey is playing a game with just the demo seen in the video, but it’s quite shocking to think of a monkey playing a game without physical manipulation. However, the current method still has challenges. For example, in a patient who already has quadriplegia, it is not possible to take steps to teach the computer to first move the joystick to teach brain activity, and to model signal patterns according to brain activity.

However, in other studies, neural link can also be used as a substitute so that subjects can imagine specific movements even in this case.

Elon Musk is conducting this research.For example, even people who are paralyzed or unable to move their fingers can manipulate a smartphone faster than using their fingers just by thinking with their head, or the paraplegic paraplegic is responsible for the nerves responsible for distal movement and sensation. It could be wirelessly sending signals directly from your brain, allowing you to walk again.

Meanwhile, apart from Neurallink, a consortium of researchers called BrainGate is also announcing the development of a wireless brain-embedded interface. Related information can be found here.