In March of this year, China implanted a deep-brain device that allowed a man with no limbs to play computer games.
Welcome to the future.
Thirteen years ago, the man (his name is being kept private) was in a high voltage electrical accident. His injuries were about as bad as injuries get without dying. He lost all four of his limbs. Now, being a quadriplegic isn't as rare as you might think - over 40% of spinal cord injuries result in the patient unable to use any of their limbs, even if they have them. That means there's half a million people in the world in this unfortunate state. What is rare is hacking the patients brain so they can voluntarily operate objects in the real world.
This is exactly what happened at Fudan University's Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, China. The 37 year old male with no limbs took part in a stunning clinical trial. Surgeons implanted a wireless brain-computer interface (BCI) into his brain. The goal? Establish a direct communication and control connection between the brain and the external world. Tiny sensors on the BCI measure electrical signals from his motor cortex and sent them wirelessly to a software program able to interpret brain waves. When the signal looks a certain way, the software recognizes it as, for example, the user wanting to move a cursor to the left.
The experiment worked. According to the patient, "Now I can control the computer with my thoughts. It feels like I can move at will." The man with no limbs controlled a cursor and played video games on a physical computer in the real world.
It's not the first time science has successfully implanted a brain-computer interface (BCI) in a person with some version of paralysis. As early as 2006, researchers at Brown University implanted electrodes in patients that allowed them to move robotic arms. And there have been a handful of paralyzed patients since who've had similar implants, allowing them to move robotic arms or type using only thought.
The most recent success in the United States (certainly the most publicized) has been from Elon Musk's Neuralink. To date, three people have had the Neuralink implant surgically placed deep into their brain. Hundreds of ultra-thin electrodes are placed several millimeters into their gray matter, making direct contact with cortical neurons. These complex signals are then sent back to software that turns their thoughts into action. The results have been impressive. Patients have not only been able to play games, they've edited and narrated YouTube videos using AI, and made engineering designs with CAD software.
But China's first-ever successful BCI implant is different in two key ways. First, it's easier to implant -- it's not nearly as surgically invasive. The coin-sized device is the world's smallest, with a diameter of 26 millimeters and a thickness less than 6. Moreover, it uses shorter micro electrodes that don't penetrate nearly as deep, avoiding tissue intrusion. This makes the actual surgery much simpler, and negates the need for the robotic thread insertion Neuralink requires. Add to this, China's BCI sits just below the skull, relying on surface-level neural contact, with lower risk for surgical complications. The signals aren't as complex as Musk's device, but Chinese firms use machine learning algorithms to give them generally accurate control, if not the precision of the Neuralink.
Of course the second major difference is, the group behind the effort is China, an authoritarian state. The motivations for implanting chips in the brains of its citizens are very different.
Elon Musk has a lofty goal with the Neuralink project. Short term, of course, the goal is medical: patients with neurological conditions like paralysis, blindness, epilepsy, Parkinson's, depression, or memory loss, would be able to control devices with their thoughts, and regain a good quality of life. But long term, Musk sees a way for all people to merge their brains with AI via these implants, achieving what he calls "symbiosis" with AI, where the powers of large language models become tools we can access simply with our own thoughts. In other words, Neuralink would improve us as individuals in ways bordering on giving us mental superpowers. Lofty indeed.
This is not China's vision, of course.
In February 2024, China's Communist Party issued national BCI guidelines promoting research into non-medical uses for the implants. They specifically mention memory regulation and exoskeleton control. China's BCI policy openly talk about the implants as part of a strategic military technology. They view the BCI as part of "intelligentized warfare," potentially enabling faster soldier--machine coordination (like drone piloting by thought), battlefield communication through brain signals, and cognitive enhancement of soldiers.
Even more disturbing, their policy allows for BCI's to be integrated into surveillance and behavioral monitoring. This would go beyond just patients in need of medical help, but extend to workers in factories and students. China's BCI intentions tightly interweave military goals and civilian control.
The fact they are more easily implanted makes China's vision of wide BCI implantation a reality worthy of our concern. You may be able to control video games with your mind, but it works both ways -- China intends to control you, too.
Fortunately for us in the West, Elon Musk and his successful Neuralink project are focused outside the political realm. He just wants to make us enhanced humans.
Except on July 5th of this year, Mr. Musk announced he is leading a new political party.