Here we sort the reality from the hype and tell you what you need to know about the technology.

1. What is a brain-computer interface?

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), also known as brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), are systems that translate a user’s brain activity into messages or commands for interactive applications. To put it simply, BCIs enable users to control various machines by using nothing else but brain activity.

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A simple example of BCI is when a person moves a ball on a computer screen left or right by imagining left or right hand movements.

Brain-computer interfaces work in three main steps: signal acquisition, decoding and application to an external device.

Signal acquisition by the brain will work differently depending on whether the technique used is non-invasive or invasive. Non-invasive techniques, such as an electroencephalogram (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG), pick up brain signals through sensors placed on a person’s scalp. Invasive techniques are more aggressive and require implants that can interact directly with neurons. Musk’s ambition relates to the latter, creating a wireless implantable device, merging man and machine directly.

2. What has been the progression of brain-computer interface technology?

The technology dates back to the 1920s when German scientist Hans Berger discovered that the human brain produced electrical currents, which reflected brain activity and could be measured by attaching electrodes to the scalp. Fifty years later, in 1973, the term brain-computer interfaces was coined by Jacques Vidal, then a researcher at the University of California in Los Angeles, who described BCIs as “utilising the brain signals in a man-computer dialogue”. Since then, interest in the idea of using computer algorithms to transform recorded brain signals into commands has grown rapidly.

Non-invasive EEG hardware is safe for users but suffers from lower signal clarity. The year 1998 marked a significant development in the field when the first device was implanted into the human brain, meaning the electrodes were placed directly into the cortex to measure brain activity.

The main driving force behind BCI adoption at that time was its use as an assistive technology for motor-impaired people like Parkinson’s disease patients. Medical treatment is still the main purpose today while scientists dream of being able to stimulate the visual cortex to help the blind or forge new neural connections to cure stroke victims.

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For tech entrepreneurs like Musk, BCIs are not only useful for curing diseases – they could secure humanity’s future. He believes the human race could be left behind, even under a benign AI, but with a high bandwidth brain-machine interface, we will have the option of going along for the ride.

In the future, it is possible that consumer applications of BCI could take off if they can perform useful functions. Finding affordable applications of the technology is even the focus of some BCIs start-ups.

3. What companies are investing in brain-machine interfaces?

Although a late entrant in the BCI field compared with the US, in May this year China announced the development of a BCI chip called Brain Talker. Specially designed for decoding brainwave information, it will be used the fields of medical treatment, education, home life and gaming, according to state-run Xinhua.

BrainCo, a BCI start-up founded by Chinese engineer Han Bicheng, is the only leading Chinese company in this field. Han graduated from Harvard University and established company headquarters in Massachusetts, with offices in China. By detecting and translating human brain signals via the use of advanced sensors and complex machine learning algorithms, the company developed a technology that not only improves people’s cognitive skills but also allows them to remotely control the movement of a robot purely through the power of their minds.

However, the company was criticised for enabling surveillance after photos emerged showing schoolchildren wearing its Focus headbands in the classroom. BrainCo has secured a two-year deal to get its Focus 1 device manufactured and is targeting shipments of 600,000 units, Han told the MIT Technology Review in 2017, without elaborating on who the customers will be.

The two figures publicly leading the race in BCI in the US are Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, both focusing on how BCIs will transform how people interact with laptops and smartphones.

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Facebook has been testing brain computer interfaces for several years under its Building 8 group. The project is developing a skullcap it says will allow users to mentally type their thoughts at 100 words per minute.

Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX, is backing a similar technology from start-up Neuralink that will produce a device worn behind the ear that can send a user’s thoughts to external devices.

Bryan Johnson, founder of the payments service Braintree, has committed US$100 million to a BCI start-up called Kernel, which is building a non-invasive device to improve human cognition. InteraXon, founded in 2007 in Canada, demonstrated a thought-controlled headset at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 that could control lights at major landmarks.

4. What achievements have been made in brain-computer interfaces?

Around 150,000 people with Parkinson’s have benefited from deep-brain stimulation via electrodes that help them control the disease, according to The Economist. Globally, more than 300,000 people have cochlear implants, enabling them to hear by converting sound into electrical signals sent to the brain.

In 2014, a paraplegic man kicked a ball with a mind-controlled robotic exoskeleton at the opening ceremony of the football World Cup in Brazil. The University of Washington has built a “brain-to-brain network” that enables people to use their thoughts to play games with each other, while researchers at the University of California said they can collect brain signals from public speakers and convert those signals into intelligible speech “spoken” by computers.

5. What are the major barriers to future development?

The possibilities are enormous but progress is impeded by various barriers, including technological, scientific and medical, as well as ethical.

While sensors used in non-invasive devices are generally safe but less effective, more ambitious devices require implants that interact directly with neurons. This requires development of highly reliable invasive electrodes but at present they can only communicate with a few hundred of the 85 billion neurons in the human brain. The job of mapping these applications into the brain is still very challenging, and brain signals are not standard for each person, so decoding the signals is challenging.

Even though we all have a brain, how it works is still largely unknown, especially when it comes to storing memory information. Achieving symbiosis between the brain and electrodes is difficult and the most advanced technologies can only tested in animals.

On the issue of ethics, if a brain can be connected to a machine, then it theoretically can be hacked and controlled by others. The refuge of inner thought may also disappear.