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China is determined to become a global leader in the promising field of brain-computer interfaces. This week, the country took a major step toward achieving this ambitious goal. On Wednesday, numerous Chinese media outlets reported that the domestic neurotechnology firm Neuracle (also known as Borui Kang Medical Technology) had successfully performed the world’s first surgical implantation of a commercial neurocomputer interface. The patient was a man who had completely lost the use of his arm as a result of a spinal cord injury ten years ago.
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The innovative device, Neural Electronic Opportunity (NEO for short), is about the size of a coin. The device contains eight electrodes that are implanted directly onto the surface of the brain’s sensorimotor cortex during surgery. There, the device detects electrical impulses between neurons that occur when a person imagines moving their arm. The data collected is transmitted to a computer, which converts it into motor commands for a metal robotic glove worn on the patient’s hand. In March of this year, China’s National Medical Products Administration officially approved NEO, making it the world’s first invasive neural interface to receive a license for commercial use from a government regulatory agency.
This achievement is a major victory for Neuracle amid intensifying competition with Elon Musk’s company, Neuralink. In 2024, the latter startup successfully implanted a neural interface into a human brain, although this was not historically the first successful implantation of such technology. However, Neuralink still does not have a license from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is a prerequisite for bringing any new treatments or drugs to the U.S. market. Earlier this year, representatives of Musk’s company announced that 21 participants had been enrolled in clinical trials.
While Neuracle and Neuralink are focusing their efforts specifically on surgical implant procedures – which carry obvious and significant risks to human health – other developers are attempting to connect the human body to computer systems through less invasive methods.
Last month, Meta unveiled a new version of its project, called Brain2Qwerty, which uses a large language model to convert neural activity into typed letters. Company representatives emphasized that this tool can restore the ability to communicate with others for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other severe neurodegenerative diseases that have robbed them of their ability to speak. Meanwhile, another Chinese company, BrainCo, has developed a bionic prosthetic hand that functions through the integration of electromyography and AI algorithms.
While Chinese AI experts are making every effort to catch up with their competitors in the United States, the government is directing massive investments toward the development of domestic neurocomputing technologies. This area has become one of the key priorities outlined in the Chinese government’s latest five-year plan, where it is mentioned alongside quantum computing, AI-powered robotics, thermonuclear fusion, and other strategically important developments, according to Reuters.
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