Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered the public a glimpse behind the laboratory curtain on Friday afternoon, broadcasting a live-streamed demonstration of Neuralink's new AI-powered implant for people's brains. Like many live broadcasts, things didn't go quite to plan schedule-wise, yet the potential of the technology itself is, as Musk put it was (without a single chuckle from the room) 'mind blowing.' The stream went on for nearly two hours, giving the Twitter world plenty of time to share its thoughts and reactions.
Neuralink was originally unveiled to the public in 2017. As a startup co-founded by Elon Musk, the company has hired several of the top neuroscientists around the globe to create technologies that help people with brain diseases and other disabilities, many of which are associated with aging. Earlier this week, Musk tweeted the announcement of the Neuralink demonstration, promising a 'working' device and neurons firing in real time. At that point, Twitter and the Musk followers (and doubters) began to hum with anticipation. Little did they know they'd have to wait even longer.
As followed by Twitter - Friday's stream, while potentially revolutionizing mankind's relationship with technology, got off to a shaky start. It was eerily similar to Musk's infamous Cybertruck reveal stream. First, the stream started nearly 45 minutes late, offering a long opportunity for people on Twitter staring at a Neuralink logo to share their humor. Next, Musk (whom is not the most clear and concise public speaker) essentially described Neuralink as a Fitbit in your skull. Then, as he got into further details of the device, it was starting to sound like a Black Mirror episode. After a somewhat trivialized PowerPoint presentation explaining the technology, Musk unveiled his 'three little pigs' demonstration. Of the pigs, Gertrude (who actually had a link device in her skull) did not want to come out for the cameras. This led to several minutes of dead airtime consisting of Musk chuckling and troubleshooting the issue in real time from the other side of the pen. When things finally settled down, the demonstration was quite astonishing and promising for the future. However, when the live Q&A from Twitter came around, things got a bit goofy again.
When the employees of Neuralink all stepped out and took their place around Gertrude and the other pig pens, Twitter began to ask some very genuine and well thought out questions, offering brilliant scientists the opportunity to explain the work that has consumed their lives the past three years. At one point, someone on Twitter asked if Neuralink owners would be able to summon their Tesla using their mind someday. Without skipping a beat, Elon Musk confirmed, although it was seemed more in jest than anything (Tesla engineers probably fell back from their sit/stand desks at that point). While most of the questions that were read live were relative and thought provoking, Twitter had its own questions and reactions that didn't make the cut. Here's a small, but potent, sample.
As the livestream was significantly delayed without explanation, Twitter shared its pain in the anticipation:
Some speculated what might be going on at Neuralink before the curtain went up:
Others reacted in real time to Musk's own words:
The pigs were a huge hit on Twitter, and their reluctance to participate made for some great reactions:
People on Twitter also began to imagine the future using Neuralink:
Fans even offered their own engineering recommendations for charging the Neuralink:
While not all questions made it to the Q&A, video game integration was discussed thoroughly:
There you have it, Twitter capped off an interesting and entertaining Neuralink demonstration the only way it knows how - with clever memes, grammatically questionable thoughts, and a plethora of Tweets directly at Elon Musk to either hire that person (Musk did use the broadcast as a giant recruitment opportunity) or give them money for their start-up. It will be interesting to see what developments and breakthroughs the next Neuralink demonstration will offer, but you can bet Twitter is going to have plenty to say about it.
Source: Twitter
