China joins US in brain implant race with clinical trial

BCI is an emerging technology to help restore functionality to people with paralysis, and Neuralink Corp., co-founded by Elon Musk, is at the forefront of this research

China’s first clinical trial of a technology that allows signals from the brain to control an external device has proved successful, making it only the second country after the US to reach this stage, according to the Global Times.

Chinese researchers used brain-computer interfaces, or BCI, a wireless invasive implant in a patient with tetraplegia in March, the English-language newspaper reported. Only a few weeks after the surgery, the patient was able to play racing games and chess on the computer using only the mind to control the electronic devices, it said, citing a statement from the Shanghai-based Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology.

BCI is an emerging technology to help restore functionality to people with paralysis, and Neuralink Corp., co-founded by Elon Musk, is at the forefront of this research. The implant used in the Chinese trial is the world’s smallest so far, with a diameter of 26 millimeters and thickness less than 6 millimeters, the Global Times said, adding that it’s over 100 times more flexible than the one developed by Neuralink.

For the next stage, the team plans to enable the patient to operate a robotic arm using thoughts to perform more complex physical actions as such grasping and holding a cup. The center launched the trial in collaboration with Fudan University’s Huashan Hospital.

Beijing has reported some experiments with implants by startup companies over the past months, but the clinical trial shows China is in a tight race with the US in developing this frontier technology. The center said the BCI system could get approval from the authorities, and be able to enter the market as early as 2028.