Elon Musk wants to stream music directly into our brains

If Elon Musk didn’t already give you major evil tech overlord vibes, wait until you get a hold of this. Musk, who runs SpaceX and Tesla, has (predictably) taken to Twitter to speak about his latest venture: a micro chip that allows wearers to stream music directly into their brains, which is, of course, completely fine.

Apart from sounding like something out of Black Mirror, the chip, or “brain-computer interface”, is part of Musk’s startup Neuralink, which was founded in 2016 but has largely remained out of the public eye until now.

Responding to computer scientist Austin Howard in a now-deleted tweet, Musk said the Elysium-style device will allow people to “listen to music directly from our chips” – like ears, but more expensive. He added that Neuralink “could help control hormone levels and use them to our advantage”. Whether any of this is actually possible is yet to be confirmed.

Speaking at the 2019 event, Musk said Neuralink was working on a “sewing machine-like” device that would provide a direct connection between a computer and a chip inserted within the brain. The process, which he compared to Lasik laser eye surgery, will involve a neurosurgical robot that fits flexible “threads” into the brain connected to a tiny implantable computer chip.

Admittedly, the idea of Musk, hijacking our brains isn’t the most comforting, especially given his unhinged track record of calling innocent people pedophiles, starting Twitter spats over farting unicorn mugs, and releasing a pair of red satin Tesla short-shorts and pricing them at £69.420 for lols. Then again, maybe it’s all fine and this is just an elaborate ploy to make us listen to more Grimes – who knows?

Musk has previously promised that more updates about Neuralink’s work will be announced on August 28. You can find out more about Neuralink by watching their 2019 launch presentation here.