Neuralink: From an Empty Office to "Mind Typing" — A Complete Record of Brain-Computer Interface Entrepreneurship

In 2016, when the world was still unaware of ChatGPT and autonomous driving technology was in its infancy, a tweet by Elon Musk sparked the story of a futuristic company — Neuralink. This experiment in merging technology with the human brain has come a long way since the first day of buying chairs for the OfficeMax office, through the rugged journey of startups, animal experiments, human clinical trials, and today, the company is using brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to help paralyzed individuals “move” again.

From “Neural Dust” PhD Student to Neuralink Founder

Rewinding to 2016, Musk discussed the concept of “neural lace” on Twitter and began recruiting experts to explore the possibilities of brain-machine interfaces. At that time, a PhD student researching “Neural Dust” technology named Dongjin Seo met him, and soon after, he co-founded Neuralink with a group of engineers, aiming to create the world’s first mass-produced, wireless, high-bandwidth brain-machine interface device.

At that time, the company had not even basic office furniture; on the first day, they had to buy chairs themselves. The start was tough, but the vision was grand.

The Ultimate Goal of Brain-Computer Interfaces: Breaking Down the Wall Between “Thought” and “Device”

BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) is a technology capable of “reading and writing” signals from the human brain. Its initial application focused on helping paralyzed individuals, especially those with spinal cord injuries or ALS, enabling them to control smartphones, computers, and even robotic arms solely with their thoughts. Neuralink’s first product was named Telepathy, literally meaning “mind reading.”

From Wired Connectors to Wireless Implants: Neuralink’s Four Years of Hardware Refinement

In its early days, Neuralink started with wired implant devices (with USB-C), gradually moving toward wireless, miniaturized implant chips. The core of the device is a coin-sized chip that reads neural electrical signals from the brain and transmits them via Bluetooth to external devices.

Neuralink is not just making implant devices; it also developed a surgical robot from scratch. The first-generation prototype was cobbled together with eBay parts, but today, this surgical robot can be used for human surgeries.

From Monkey Playing Ping-Pong to Humans Playing “Civilization VI”

In 2021, a monkey named Pager amazed the world by playing “Pong” using only its mind. A few years later, the first human participant (coded P1), after implanting the device, used brainwaves to control a computer and played “Civilization VI” for nine consecutive hours.

Neuralink’s applications are not limited to mouse cursors. Participants can use their thoughts to operate robotic arms for drawing, and even regain voice and interact with family. For late-stage ALS patients, this technology allows them to play outdoors with their children and, for the first time, let their children “hear Dad’s voice.”

By the end of 2024, 13 users have actually used Telepathy, averaging over 8 hours of daily use.

How to Expand from 13 Users to a 10,000-Person Waiting List?

Although there are currently clinical users, over 10,000 people are queued to receive Telepathy. This presents enormous pressure on device manufacturing capacity, surgical procedures, and user support systems. Neuralink’s long-term goal is to make such surgeries as quick and widespread as LASIK laser eye surgery — even completed during lunch breaks. The new generation surgical robot “Rev 10” can reduce surgery time from an hour to just a few minutes, paving the way for large-scale implantation.

From Thousands of Channels to Whole Brain Connectivity

Currently, the device can penetrate about 4 millimeters into the brain. If future developments allow deeper access, more neural signals can be captured, potentially restoring more complex sensory functions such as “touch” and “vision.” Neuralink is also developing a project called Blindsight, aiming to enable speechless, deaf, or blind individuals to “speak, hear, and see” again.

The ultimate goal is to establish a “Whole Brain Interface,” capable of reading and writing to any region of the human brain, not only for restoring functions but also for human capability expansion (Augmented Cognition).

The Big Questions in Small Devices

Neuralink’s implant chips have the ability to read thousands of neural channels, but data compression and transmission are major challenges. Raw data can reach up to 200 Mbps, while Bluetooth bandwidth is only 20 kbps. How to compress signals without affecting performance is key to chip design.

Additionally, the device uses wireless charging. Many users charge daily via a coil on their hats. Neuralink’s ultimate plan is to develop a “charging pillow” that allows the device to recharge during sleep.

The Technical Challenge of Converting Brain Waves into “Mouse Cursor” Movements

The device reads neural potentials (spikes), which are then processed by machine learning models to generate mouse cursor movement commands. The process includes:

• Bluetooth pairing

• Body movement mapping to brain waves

• Cursor calibration

Currently, new users can start using the device in about 15-20 minutes, but the biggest challenge is signal drift, which causes model performance to decline. Therefore, the team is actively developing automatic calibration techniques that do not require repeated calibration.

From Gaming to Drawing: Creating a New Human-Machine Interaction Interface

Users can now play Halo, feed themselves with robotic arms, create digital art, and even engage in professional work through Telepathy. These features are still in testing and optimization stages, requiring extensive software support and ecosystem development in the future.

Neuralink insists on vertical integration, handling almost everything internally — from chip manufacturing, robot design, surgical procedures, to software platforms. This is also the key to rapid iteration and breaking through bottlenecks.

Today, Neuralink has only about 300 employees but carries the ambition to revolutionize the way humans connect with technology. Every aspect, from engineering implementation, neuroscience, chip design, surgical automation, to user experience, remains a challenge but also an opportunity for developers, researchers, and innovators to showcase their talents.

This article Neuralink How It Went from an Empty Office to “Mind Typing”: A Complete Record of Brain-Computer Interface Startup originally appeared on Chain News ABMedia.