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Tipping Point Quick Hits (06.05.25)

Neuralink Gets $650 Million More in Funding

Elon Musk has been in the news lately for criticizing the Trump budget bill and disputing widespread allegations of drug use, but he’s gotten much less attention for his attempt to merge human brains with computers. His brain technology startup Neuralink recently closed a $650 million funding round, which the company says will help it accelerate trials and develop new devices that “deepen the connection between biological and artificial intelligence.”

The company is building systems that translate brain signals into commands read by computers using a surgically implanted brain-computer interface. As designed, 64 digital “threads,” which are thinner than a human hair, are inserted into the brain to record neural signals. This allows those with the implants to control devices with their thoughts. Musk has even said his technology will someday be able to restore vision for blind patients.

Five patients have now been implanted with this technology.

Neuralink isn’t the only company experimenting in this space. Brain-computer interfact startups like Precision Neuroscience, Synchron and Paradromics are also working to implant its interfaces in human brains. In fact, Paradromics just completed its first brain-computer interface implant with a patient who has epilepsy.

But Neuralink is clearly the leader. I was alarmed by a statement in the press release about the latest funding round that caught my attention. It doesn’t just talk about restoring independence or returning people with debilitating diseases to better health. It mentions things like expanding “what’s possible for humanity” as it imagines a whole-brain digital interface: