Audrey Crews, paralyzed for over twenty years, has marked history by managing to write his name simply with her thoughts. It is a world premiere made possible by a cerebral chip developed by the company Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk. She is now the first woman to have been established with this device.
Advertisement
Audrey Crews manages to write by thought, a world first
It is a historic turning point for brain-machine interfaces. Audrey Crews, paralyzed for over twenty years, has managed to write his name only thanks to her thoughts, thanks to a chip established in his brain. She thus becomes the very first woman in the world to test this technology developed by Neuralink, the company founded by Elon Musk.
Audrey shared his experience on X (formerly Twitter), saying that the intervention had taken place the previous week at the University of Miami. The implant, the size of a 25 cents, was inserted into its engine cortex via a small hole in the skull. It is connected to 128 microfils intended to capture the neural signals responsible for the movement.
Thanks to this brain-computer interface (BCI), Audrey can now control her computer by thought alone. A step that she would never have believed possible. She soon hopes to be able to order other electronic devices. “The operation went very well. The medical team was incredible. I was treated as a VIP,” she says with emotion.
However, it should be noted that this implant will not allow Audrey to move back. “It is only telepathy, that is to say direct communication between my brain and a computer,” she said in her testimony.
An advance that also fascinates Elon Musk
Elon Musk was quick to greet this progress. He retweeted Audrey’s message with this comment: “She wrote her name by thought for the first time in 20 years. Few people realize how extraordinary it is.”, Recalls the media CNBC TV18.
Founded in 2016, Neuralink aims to help people with neurological lesions, and more broadly to improve human cognitive capacities. The concept of “neural lace” (or neuronal lace), inspired by a science fiction universe of Iain M. Banks, gradually becomes reality.
Audrey Crews today embodies the hope of millions of patients worldwide. This first public success opens an era where thought could ultimately become a mode of communication as natural as speech.
