Neuralink founded

Musk co-founded Neuralink in 2016 to build implantable brain–computer interfaces — devices that read signals directly from the brain to restore lost function. The flagship N1 implant is a coin-sized device with 1,024 electrodes spread across 64 ultrafine threads, placed in the motor cortex by a purpose-built surgical robot and read out wirelessly over Bluetooth.

The near-term mission is concrete and humane: give people with paralysis, ALS, blindness and other conditions a way to control computers, communicate, and regain independence using only their thoughts. Musk's longer-term vision extends to a deeper human–AI partnership.

Building a safe, high-bandwidth brain interface is one of the hardest problems in medicine and engineering, combining neuroscience, microfabrication, robotics and wireless electronics. Neuralink set out not merely to research it but to ship a real, implantable product through the FDA — and, within eight years, it did.