Neuralink was co-founded by Max Hodak. On Saturday, the President tweeted, “I am no longer at Neuralink (as of a few weeks ago). I learned a ton there and remain a huge cheerleader for the company! Onward to new things.”
Hodak, who was with Neuralink when the company started in 2016, is a Biomedical Engineer whose primary research interest is in Brain-machine interfaces. He didn’t reveal the circumstances behind his departure.
Neuralink is responsible for developing ultra-high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces which connect humans and computers. Just last month, the company shared on YouTube how a monkey with a Neuralink implanted in its brain moved a cursor on a computer screen using only its mind.
Musk, who co-founded Neuralink along with Hodak and other scientists, has invested millions of dollars of his personal wealth into fulfilling the company’s mission. Last year, Stat News gave a report of some old employees who described a chaotic internal culture at the company, stating that its scientists weren’t always given enough time to complete projects.
While Neuralink didn’t invent brain-machine interfaces, its technology includes thin, flexible wires and more electrodes than other devices, potentially providing more data. Musk has stated that Neuralink’s technology could one day be used to allow paraplegics to walk again and allow humans to achieve “AI symbiosis,” merging the human brain with artificial intelligence.
But experts in the scientific and medical space have criticized Neuralink saying they are not certain of its scientific claims. This was after the August 2020 demonstration of a pig that had a Neuralink device implanted in its brain. Even the MIT Technology Review confirms that most of Neuralink’s medical claims are highly speculative.
On Saturday, Hodak wasn’t immediately available to reply to the comments on Twitter. However, Musk needed to focus on what’s happening at SpaceX, – his Aerospace venture. Astronauts, who had spent 167 days in space on a SpaceX and NASA mission, tried to make their return back home but had a “splashdown” expected around 2:57 a.m.
