Competitor Neuralink has implanted a record 4,096 electrodes into the human brain

The neurostartup Precision Neuroscience implanted 4096 electrodes into the human brain, which is twice the previous record of 2048 electrodes set in 2023. Interestingly, the company is led by former Neuralink engineer Elon Musk, which has only recently begun human trials.

Precision Neuroscience conducted the test at Mount Sinai facility in New York as part of a major brain surgery. In April, the patient had a tumor removed, and afterwards the Precision team temporarily implanted four arrays of the Layer 7 Cortical Interface system, each containing 1024 electrodes (a total of 4096, a record).

During contact with the patient's brain, the electrodes recorded a vast amount of information from an 8 sq. cm area of the brain known as the motor-sensory boundary. The company claims that this data is crucial for developing technology that could read and understand user's intentions.

In contrast to Neuralink, Precision Neuroscience has developed its implants as non-invasive - the microelectrodes contact the brain tissue but do not penetrate it. Elon Musk's Neuralink, on the other hand, has developed an interface that extends flexible wires a few millimeters into the brain, which poses a risk of minor damage. During the first trial, it was reported that some of them disconnected from the patient's brain.

The head of Neuroscience, Ben Rapoport, was a co-founder of Neuralink and left Musk's company due to safety issues.

Overall, the main goal of all BCI developers (brain-computer interface) is to create a viable tool that can transform the thoughts of patients with degenerative diseases into cursor movements on the screen - to partially restore their ability to communicate, or to allow people with spinal cord injuries to work on the computer.

The Layer 7 interface is designed for implantation through a small incision, while Neuralink's surgical robot requires a significantly larger opening. Precision Neuroscience also claims that their BCI matrices can be disconnected from the brain if necessary without causing harm.