Neuralink: New speed record for cursor control with thought

Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company founded by Elon Musk, has announced a new record in the speed of controlling a cursor through thought. The system has reached a speed of 11.32 bits per second, a significant step forward toward the goal of challenging traditional mice and keyboards.

This result was achieved using a "foundation model" trained on over 50,000 hours of neural activity collected during the company's clinical trials. This approach has enabled the development of decoders that remain operational for weeks instead of just a few days, drastically reducing the need for frequent system calibrations.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are technologies that translate the brain's electrical activity into commands to control external devices, such as computers or prosthetics. The development of these interfaces began decades ago in the field of medical research, primarily to help people with severe motor disabilities or paralysis communicate or interact with their environment. The major technical obstacle has always been the variability and instability of neural signals over time, which required frequent calibrations and made the systems impractical.

Neuralink, founded in 2016, aimed to overcome these limitations by developing high-density neural implants and sophisticated signal interpretation algorithms. The approach described today represents a methodological breakthrough: instead of training models on limited, user-specific data, the company has created a foundation model based on a vast amount of neural data (50,000 hours) collected from various trial participants. This allows starting from a general understanding of brain activity, which is then adapted to the individual more quickly and stably, paving the way for more reliable and everyday-use devices.