Elon Musk claims Neuralink brain chips bypassing paralysis, blindness are ‘Jesus-level technologies’

"Restoring control of people who are tetraplegics and restoring sight I think are pretty big deals," Musk said, per MarketWatch. "They're sort of what I might call Jesus-level technologies. I mean miracles in the scientific sense."

A major application of Neuralink has been to give disabled people a broader range of abilities by making their brains part of a network with other objects, such as a remote arm. The Telepathy chips have been implanted in 21 patients, notes newsletter AI Secret. Musk was speaking at the Samson International Smart Mobility Summit in Tel Aviv via remote link and complained about Neuralink that people "aren't talking about enough" about it.

"It has enabled people who have completely lost their brain-body connection to speak again..." he said, "and we believe it will enable people to walk again." He also anticipates that it will help people see again by giving inputs to the brain's visual cortex and bypassing the blind eyes entirely. That product is called Blindsight.

The first patient application of Blindsight is expected to be by the end of 2026. Of the technology, Musk said it could give the blind "perhaps superhuman vision." Company president and co-founder DJ Seo wants to install Neuralink in an "otherwise healthy person" by 2030.

The first recipient of Neuralink was paralyzed from a diving accident, and once Noland Arbaugh was implanted with the device, he was able to design 3D models with his mind, among other abilities. Musk's team is now tackling blindness with Blindsight and expects to use the chips to send signals across damaged spinal cords, allowing the paralyzed to walk.