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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Aisha Down

Investors’ ‘dumb transhumanist ideas’ setting back neurotech progress, say experts

A sci-fi drawing of a human head with a phone in the foreground with the Neuralink logo
‘Neuralink is doing legitimate technology development for neuroscience, and then Elon Musk comes along and starts talking about telepathy and stuff.’ Photograph: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

It has been an excellent year for neurotech, if you ignore the people funding it. In August, a tiny brain implant successfully decoded the inner speech of paralysis patients. In October, an eye implant restored sight to patients who had lost their vision.

It would just be better, say experts, if the most famous investors in the space – tech magnates such as Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman – were less interested in uploading their brains to computers or merging with AI.

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