Neuralink Statistics By Patents, Trends, Technology, Human Testing, Animal Testing And Alleged Harm

Introduction

Neuralink Statistics: On January 29, Elon Musk shared that his company, Neuralink, had successfully placed its first brain chip into a living person through surgery. This chip is designed to let users control phones or computers just by thinking about the action they want to take. In the fall of 2021, the Pew Research Center surveyed Americans about brain chip implants that could help people think faster and more clearly. Most people were cautious or unsure about the idea, and their opinions changed based on how the technology would be used.

Over half of US adults (56%) believed that having brain chips widely used to boost mental ability would be harmful to society. Only 13% thought it would be good, while 31% weren’t sure. A big majority (78%) said they wouldn’t want a chip implanted in their brain, but 20% said they would be open to it. We shall shed more light on Neuralink Statistics through this article.

Editor’s Choice

• Elon Musk’s brain implant company, Neuralink, has raised $280 million through a Series D funding round. This comes just a few weeks after the company received approval to begin testing its device on people.
• The funding was led by Founders Fund, a venture capital firm started by Peter Thiel. This group also helped fund Neuralink’s earlier $205 million Series C round in 2021, as mentioned in a post on X (formerly called Twitter).
• Neuralink plans to use the money to address the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) concerns about its brain-computer device and to get permission to begin human trials.
• On May 29, 2024, Musk asked the public for help with a major technical issue. He said the company needs to shrink huge amounts of brain data by more than 200x without losing any of it. This compression must work in real-time and use very little power. A software expert, Roy van Rijn, said getting 200x lossless compression is “nearly impossible.”

What is Neuralink?

Ramses Alcaide, CEO of Neurable, a neurotechnology company that makes non-surgical brain-computer tools like smart headphones, said Neuralink is a tech company building a device to link human brains to computers directly. He explained that Neuralink’s system can pick up and translate brain signals and send data back into the brain using tiny electrical pulses.

The brain chip, called “the Link,” is about the size of a coin. It’s placed under the skull through surgery. It connects to the brain using thin wires that spread into different brain areas to control movement. These wires have tiny sensors that can read and send out electrical signals. They’re so small that human hands can’t place them, so Neuralink made a robotic system to do the surgery automatically.

Neuralink is also working on an app that lets people control a computer mouse or keyboard just by thinking.

“Neuralink is leading the charge in making this kind of brain-computer tech available to the public,” said Sumner Norman, a scientist at the nonprofit startup Convergent Research and a former expert in brain-computer tech at AE Studio.

He added that while colleges have studied this for many years, turning it into real products is expensive and requires major funding.

Neuralink Patents Statistics

• Neuralink owns 61 patents worldwide, spread across 27 different patent groups. Of these, 49 are still active, while the rest are inactive.

(Reference: insights.greyb.com)

(Reference: insights.greyb.com)

• Neuralink Statistics stated that Neuralink (not including its branches or related companies) has filed 32 patent applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
• This number doesn’t include design or international (PCT) filings. Of the 32 applications, 18 have been approved, giving Neuralink a patent approval rate of 94.74%.

Neuralink Facts and Trends

• Neuralink Statistics stated that more than 56% of adults in the US believe that the widespread use of brain implants to improve mental abilities would be harmful to society.
• Only 13% think it would be beneficial, and 31% said they’re unsure. A large portion—78%—said they wouldn’t want a brain chip, while 20% said they would be willing to have one.

(Reference: pewresearch.com)

• In the 2021 survey, 63% of Americans said that using brain chips on a large scale would be “messing with nature and goes beyond a limit we shouldn’t cross.”
• On the other hand, 35% felt more connected to the idea that “as humans, we always try to improve ourselves, and this is just another way to do that.”
• People with strong religious beliefs were likelier to feel that brain chips crossed a line. Among those deeply committed to their religion, 81% agreed with that view, compared to only 50% with low religious involvement.
• Still, many Americans supported certain uses of brain implants:

1. 77% favoured using them to help paralysed people move better.
2. 64% supported using them to treat memory loss or mental decline in older adults.
3. 32% liked using them to turn thoughts into written text.
4. 25% supported using them to search the web using only the mind.

Neuralink Technology Statistics

• In 2018, Gizmodo reported that Neuralink was keeping its work secret. Public records showed the company tried to set up an animal research lab in San Francisco but later moved its studies to the University of California, Davis.
• A year later, in 2019, Neuralink introduced its prototype during a live event at the California Academy of Sciences.
• This system uses thin threads inserted into the brain, a surgical robot to do the procedure, and advanced electronics to read brain signals.
• The technology was built using earlier research by UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley.

#1. Brain Threads (Probes)

• The threads are mostly made of polyimide, a material safe for the human body, and include a very thin layer of gold or platinum for conducting signals.
• A robot inserts these threads into the brain. Each thread has a section with tiny wires and electrodes that can detect electrical activity. The other end connects to electronics that boost and record the signals.
• Each probe includes 48 or 96 wires, and every wire holds 32 separate electrodes, allowing as many as 3,072 electrodes per setup.

#2. Surgical Robot

• Neuralink Statistics stated that Neuralink built a robot that can quickly place flexible threads into the brain, which helps avoid damage that may happen with bigger, stiffer tools.
• The robot has a special head with a 25-micron needle (made from tungsten-rhenium) that connects to the threads, places them in the brain, and goes through tissue and protective layers.
• The robot also uses a 50-micron tungsten wire with a bent tip that moves up and down and spins.
• The robot head has cameras to guide the needle, show the process live, and check placement.
• The threads in our brain implant are extremely thin—so small that a person’s hand cannot place them. We built a special surgical robot to insert these threads precisely and consistently where they should go.
• Base Structure: The base and motion platform act as the main support for the robot’s head. They handle the key 3-axis linear movements needed to accurately guide the robot head and needle into the right position.
• Robot Head: The robot’s head includes the lenses, sensors for five camera systems, and the optical parts needed for an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system.
• Needle: The needle, finer than a human hair, is designed to hold, place, and let go of the tiny threads.

#3. Electronics System

• Neuralink created a special microchip that can record signals from 1,536 channels.
• This chip includes 256 amplifiers (signal boosters) that can be adjusted and parts that convert brain signals into digital data.
• Neuralink Statistics stated that other built-in circuits help organise and send the data. The goal is to turn brain signals into code that a computer can understand and possibly send signals back to the brain.
• The electrodes are too large to detect individual brain cells (neurons), so they pick up signals from small groups.
• Neuralink says this issue might be fixed using special software, but it would take a lot of computing power and still might not be exact.

Neuralink Animal Testing and Alleged Harm Statistics

• In September 2023, Wired shared more details based on records and interviews with former Neuralink staff and researchers.
• The documents revealed that some monkeys had serious problems after surgery, including paralysis, brain swelling, and bloody diarrhoea.
• After the FDA rejected human trials in 2022, Neuralink tested its implants again on pigs to fix safety problems.
• Some pigs have granulomas and swollen areas in the brain caused by inflammation. Neuralink couldn’t figure out what caused them but said the implant wasn’t to blame.
• In July 2023, the USDA finished its investigation and found no signs of animal abuse, except for one case in 2019 that Neuralink reported by itself. However, PCRM disagreed, saying the probe didn’t reveal the truth.
• In October 2023, Wired said Neuralink tried to hide details about animal deaths and pain.
• A month later, US lawmakers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to look into whether Neuralink had lied to investors by not telling them about the animal deaths.
• On March 21, 2024, Elon Musk shared that Neuralink’s second product, Blindsight, was being tested on monkeys. He said it had a low-resolution signal that would improve over time and that no monkeys were harmed or killed during the tests — which goes against earlier reports.
• In December 2024, The New York Times revealed that the USDA was still investigating claims that dozens of monkeys were mistreated. That same month, Musk said on X (formerly Twitter) that the SEC had reopened another investigation about Neuralink.
• Both the USDA and SEC investigations were started because of PCRM’s complaints.
• In a December 2024 press release, PCRM said documents from UC Davis showed that Neuralink’s implants caused serious health issues in monkeys — including brain swelling, infections, paralysis, balance problems, and depression — which led to some animals being euthanised.
• Now, with changes at the top of the SEC, it’s unclear what will happen with the investigations. Elon Musk has denied all claims of animal abuse.

Neuralink Human Testing Statistics

• In 2022, the FDA rejected Neuralink’s request to start human testing, pointing out serious safety issues.
• These included worries about the implant’s lithium battery, the risk that its tiny wires might shift to other parts of the brain, and concerns about how safely the device could be removed without harming brain tissue.
• However, by May 2023, the FDA had given the green light to the trials.
• In September 2023, Neuralink started its first human trial under special approval from the FDA.
• The study focused on people with paralysis caused by spinal cord injuries in the neck or by ALS (a nerve disease).
• On January 29, 2024, Elon Musk shared that the company had implanted its Telepathy brain chip into someone the day before.
• The patient was said to be healing well. Since this was an early test, Neuralink didn’t have to prove safety or effectiveness fully, and it wasn’t required to share all details.
• In February, a brochure for the PRIME study (Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface) gave some information.
• Then, on February 20, Musk said that the first patient had successfully moved a computer mouse using only thoughts.
• On March 20, 2024, Neuralink went live on X (formerly Twitter) and introduced their first test subject, Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old man who became paralysed after a diving accident injured the C4 and C5 vertebrae in his spine.
• Arbaugh showed how he could move a computer cursor using his brain to play games like chess and control music. He said the chip made a big difference in his life, though it still needed improvements.
• Later, he shared that about 85% of the chip’s threads detached because his brain moved nearly three times more than Neuralink had expected.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was preparing a second human trial.
• Neuralink Statistics stated that the FDA had approved changes that Neuralink made to fix the earlier issue.
• In August 2024, the company implanted a chip into a second volunteer, who goes by the name Alex.
• Alex was able to use Fusion 360, a 3D design software, and even created a special mount for his Neuralink charger.
• Reports also say he could play first-person shooter video games at a higher level than before. His procedure was adjusted to place the chip closer to the brain’s surface and reduce brain movement, helping prevent thread detachment.
• In November 2024, Neuralink got permission from Health Canada to launch its first clinical trial in Canada, CAN-PRIME. Dr. Andres M. Lozano is leading this study.

Conclusion

By 2025, Neuralink will have made significant progress in brain-computer technology. The company raised over $280 million in new funding and owns 61 patents across the globe. Of the patent applications it filed in the US, 94.74% have been approved. Neuralink’s devices are being tested on people for the first time, aiming to help those with serious disabilities regain movement and control.

While many are hopeful about the technology, the company has faced strong backlash for using animals in testing and concerns about safety. Still, Neuralink is expanding its work into other countries, showing that brain-computer interfaces could become part of everyday life.