Elon Musk’s quest to wirelessly connect human brains with machines has run into a seemingly impossible obstacle, experts say. The company is now asking the public for help finding a solution.

Musk’s startup Neuralink, which is in the early stages of testing in human subjects, is pitched as a brain implant that will let people control computers and other devices using their thoughts. Some of Musk’s predictions for the technology include letting paralyzed people “walk again and use their arms normally.”

Turning brain signals into computer inputs means transmitting a lot of data very quickly. A problem for Neuralink is that the implant generates about 200 times more brain data per second than it can currently wirelessly transmit. Now, the company is seeking a new algorithm that can transmit this data in a smaller package — a process called compression — through a public challenge.

As a barebones web page announcing the Neuralink Compression Challenge posted on Thursday explains, “[greater than] 200x compression is needed.” The winning solution must also run in real time, and at low power.

  • SharkAttak@kbin.social
    1·
    1 month ago

    Oh but I’m not saying this out of selfishness, the problem for me is not the cancer cure in itself, but who is doing the research…

    • the experiments on monkeys were questionable in method and nature, and led to death and madness;
    • the other chip installed in a human has already lost the majority of connection wires;
      and not to forget, it’s not been specified how the public giving the ideas, would benefit from it. Musk is not exactly known as the phylanthropic kind.