Elon Musk wants to merge your brain with computers
As if we needed more proof that Tony Stark, we mean, Lex Luthor, we mean Elon Musk, is really worried about robot overlords. The Tesla and Space X CEO is so worried he wants to figure out a way to keep humans at the top of the proverbial food chain as we enter the age of AI.
Musk just launched Neuralink Corp., which will work to merge the human brain with computers through "neural lace" technology, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The company will work to develop technology that would essentially serve as a layer of AI inside the human brain.
This has been an ongoing theme for Musk; he even discussed his campaign to protect us all from becoming robot playthings in the not-so-distant future in a lengthy Vanity Fair profile.
It's not exactly clear if Neuralink Corp. will score Musk a third CEO title -- the WSJ report claims he "may play a significant leadership role," but elaborates no further, and Musk didn't reply to requests for comment.
The news that Musk is launching a company to make neural lace a reality shouldn't come as a big surprise. He's discussed the technology before; he outlined the basic outline of the tech during a talk at the Code Conference last June. He said then the neural lace would "effectively merge in a symbiotic way with a digital intelligence," giving humans an AI-powered connection without the need for conventional surgery.
He also said, "If somebody doesn’t do it than I think I should do it."
Musk is clearly finished waiting.
Brett Williams is a Tech Reporter at Mashable. He writes about tech news, trends and other tangentially related topics with a particular interest in wearables and exercise tech. Prior to Mashable, he wrote for Inked Magazine and Thrillist. Brett's work has also appeared on Fusion and AskMen, to name a few. You can follow Brett on Twitter @bdwilliams910.
