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AsiaIndustrial NetNews: The banner of the era of artificial intelligence has been slowly raised. Some people think that AI will make human progress; some people think that AI is a threat to mankind, including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Boss Ma has always made no secret of his vigilance towards AI. He once likened developing AI to “summoning the devil.” “I don’t like the idea that humans will become AI’s captive pets.” Boss Ma once said, “I think one of the solutions is to implant AI into humans.”

Therefore, now Boss Ma has invested in Neuralink company. The company is committed to developing a way for the human brain to connect seamlessly with computers. They dream of turning human beings into “cyborgs”, with powerful intelligence boosted by electronic chips.

Although only established last July, NeuralInk is already looking to collaborate with engineers and neuroscientists in many universities and labs. Their goal: to take the interaction of the digital world with the biological brain to a new level.

The researchers liken these interactive measures (screens, keyboards, including some primitive implanted electrodes in the brain) to “dial-up internet access”, and their new technology will allow our brains to process data without using the senses. The speed will reach the level of “Fiber Internet”.

Boss Ma hopes to achieve this high-speed connection between the human brain and the computer through a technology called “neural link”. The concept originally came from science fiction writer Iain M. In Banks’ series of novels, the “neural ties” technology described in the novels can directly translate thoughts into computer instructions, control the release of its own chemical transmitters, and preserve thoughts even after the body dies.

In 2015, Nature Nanotechnology published an article reporting a study that successfully implanted ultrafine electrode meshes in mouse brains. Since then, research on the connection between biological brains and the digital world has continued. The U.S. military has even announced that they have injected $60 million in research funding to study how to connect with individual neurons in the human brain.

(the way to implant the electrode mesh)

(Ultrafine electrode mesh injected into mouse brain by scientists)

(Image of electrode mesh fused with neurons)

Another company, Kernel, is currently a very cutting-edge institution in the research direction of implanted electrodes in the brain, and has spent more than 100 million US dollars on the development of similar technologies. They mainly study the implantation of electrodes in the brain to treat certain neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and certain neurodegenerative diseases. However, Kernel also has bigger ambitions. They hope to use these means to further understand the human brain, develop surgical techniques, improve the software level, and finally realize the seamless connection between human and computer. Neural of the current horse bossInk company is also developing in this direction. They expect to fully integrate the electrode network with the neuron network to form a super network that combines innate and acquired abilities.