News

Elon Musk Announces First Human Neuralink Implant

Although details are scarce, the Neuralink co-founder says initial results look promising.

Published

3 years ago

January 31, 2024

elon musk announces first human neuralink implant

In a recent announcement on social media platform X, entrepreneur Elon Musk revealed a significant development in the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Musk disclosed that Neuralink, a company he founded, has successfully administered a brain implant to its first human patient.

The achievement follows a series of delays, as Neuralink commenced patient recruitment for a clinical trial in the autumn, subsequent to securing approvals from both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a hospital ethics board.

The primary objective of Neuralink’s research involves the creation of a brain-computer interface, a groundbreaking device intended to establish a connection between the human brain and computer technology.

While Musk’s vision is a symbiotic relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence, the initial phase focuses on a more modest goal: To empower individuals with paralysis, particularly those suffering from quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to regain control over a cursor or keyboard using their brain signals.

Eligible participants for the study must be at least 22 years old, and Neuralink expects its research to span a six-year duration.

Neuralink will employ a specialized surgical robot to precisely implant the device into the region of the brain responsible for controlling movement intention. This coin-sized implant is designed to capture and transmit neural signals wirelessly to an accompanying app, which can then decode them. The device uses 1,000 electrodes distributed across 64 threads, each finer than a human hair.

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Elon Musk’s recent post highlighted that the patient was in a state of recovery and indicated promising results in the detection of neuron spikes. However, it may take several months to assess whether the patient can effectively utilize the implant to control computers or other devices.

While the specifics of the Neuralink surgical procedure are presently limited to Musk’s single tweet, the development represents a significant milestone in the evolution of brain-computer interfaces, even if it falls short of the ambitious goal of merging humans with AI.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.