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Can Musk's Neuralink brain chip really change the world?

The world's richest man is betting heavily on his brain chip, but he has ground to make up.

Neuralink's device, about the size of a coin, is inserted in the skull, with microscopic wires which can read neuron activity and beam back a wireless signal to a receiving unit. One of its main rivals, a start-up called Synchron backed by funding from investment firms controlled by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, has already implanted its stent-like device into 10 patients. Elon Musk, as well, has suggested that the ultimate goal is not to speed up your takeaway order, but to better protect humanity from the risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI), something he has described in the past as an "existential threat".

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