Neuralink Brain Chip Implant

About

Neuralink Brain Chip Implant is an implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) device made by Elon Musk's startup Neuralink, which was founded in 2016. The BCI was first introduced in August 2020 when Musk showed a live demo of the chip measuring brain activity inside pigs. The device would gain notorious fame in April 2021 when the news was shared that a monkey had been implanted with the device, demonstrated in a video showing the animal playing Pong on a computer screen handsfree (notably spawning the Neuralink Monkey meme). In late January 2024, the company and its product again went viral after it was announced that the chip was implanted in a human brain for the first time. This event similarly spawned memes as people created parody videos and images imagining the person who had a chip implanted in their brain and its consequences.

History

Neuralink ChipTessted Live In Pig Brains

Neuralink, a company founded by Elon Musk in 2016,^[7] revealed the first concept of its brain chip on August 28th, 2020, in a live event in which Musk showed off the latest advancements of the computer chip that measures brain activity inside pigs. The live demo was uploaded on YouTube^[9] (shown below), amassing more than 669,000 views and 8,800 likes in four years.

Monkey Playing Pong

On April 8th, 2021, Neuralnk announced a new development in its device in a video^[1] featuring a monkey playing Pong without any external controls thanks to a Neuralink BCI implanted in each side of its brain. The video would go on to secure 6.5 million views and 128,000 likes in almost three years (shown below), as well as sparking a meme format at the time.

Human Trial Announcement

On January 29th, 2024, almost two years after the Neuralink monkey trial and viral video were posted, Elon Musk announced on X^[2] that his startup Neuralink had implanted a chip in a human brain for the first time (shown below).^[8] The post received over 212,000 likes and 42,000 retweets in a day.

Online Presence

The idea of a chip inside a human brain catapulted many memes related to Elon Musk's Neuralink implant following his announcement in early 2024. For example, on January 30th, 2024, the X^[3] IGN page replied to a tweet saying Musk's post seemed like an "audio log you find in a trashed office in a sci-fi horror game," photoshopping his tweet inside a Dead Space log (shown below, top), amassing more than 38,000 likes and 4,200 retweets in a few hours.

On the same day, Memedroid^[4] user @ChemicalRip posted a Lord Of The Rings image macro (shown below, bottom) paired with the caption, "So it begins," which received more than 160 votes in a few hours.

TikTokers also commented on the Neuralink implant news as it spread. TikToker @carterpcs^[5] shared a video (shown below, left) about the subject on January 30th, amassing more than 197,000 plays and 25,000 likes in a few hours. That same day, TikTok^[6] user @ivangtv2 posted a video (shown below, right) explaining how the chip works and who is eligible to get one, which received roughly 509,000 plays and 38,000 likes in a few hours.

Various Examples

Related Memes

Neuralink Monkey

Neuralink Monkey refers to the subject of a viral video showcasing Elon Musk's Neuralink hardware, a brain implant that scans the monkey’s brain and allows it to play Pong on a computer screen handsfree. The video itself shows a monkey able to move a cursor around on a screen using its Neuralink, being rewarded with some banana smoothie for correct play. In memes, this is often used one of two ways: either by taking the template image and photoshopping what the monkey is watching or by taking the template video and making it seem as though the monkey is performing a different action on the screen. While similar to Neuron Activation Monkey, the two memes are not related despite being somewhat associated.

Search Interest

External References