Max Hodak, who left the company earlier this year, co-founded Neuralink with Elon Musk. Currently, he’s putting that energy to work through Science Corp, a new endeavor that seeks to shake up the promising brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. Since departing Neuralink in 2021, Hodak has thrown himself into creating new procedures. His overarching aim is to understand and thus unlock the full power of human cognition and expand the boundaries of neurological recovery.
Hodak and three former colleagues from Neuralink started Science Corp four years ago. Since then, the company has continued leaps and bounds towards the integration of biology to tech. The company just a few months ago purchased Prima from Pixium Vision and successfully finished clinical trials in 38 patients. The results exceeded expectations, with 80% of participants regaining their ability to read, even if it was just two letters at a time. This achievement is a remarkable milestone in restoring visual understanding to blind patients.
Hodak’s vision for Science Corp goes beyond restoration. He believes that understanding how billions of neurons interact to create unified experiences can lead to groundbreaking advancements in human capabilities. You need to see it in person to validate a consciousness theory, he stressed. In order to make the case for great public spaces, he emphasized the important role empirical evidence played in their research.
Innovative Procedures and Financial Viability
The fiscal future seems bright Indeed, the financial picture for Science Corp is looking very positive. Hodak has recently estimated that the company’s BCI procedures will cost at least $200,000 in the first year. He is optimistic that the business will become profitable while serving only 50 patients per month. Between those two markets, Hodak has no doubt about the market potential for BCI technologies. This alternative financial model highlights their remarkable ability to address critical public health demands.
Hodak’s vision for the future of BCI technology is highly aspirational. He imagines that by 2035 biohybrid neural interfaces will be widely available to patients who need them. By the late 2040s, he predicts that these technologies will become ubiquitous, fundamentally altering how individuals interact with the digital world and their own consciousness.
Hodak is clear about the new ethical concerns and substantial challenges these advancements create. Although he concedes that direct brain interfaces may come, he warns of dangers of information manipulation via visual interfaces. He laid bare a basic contradiction that may one day shatter the foundation of America’s expensive and dysfunctional healthcare system. He did voice his concerns over what day-to-day interactions with these advanced technologies will look like as they start to weave into the current healthcare structure.
The Road Ahead for Neural Interface Technology
The lofty aim of Science Corp, as described by Hodak, is to actually “solve the problem of cognitive overload” with groundbreaking BCI technology. He also points out the huge legacy of research spent on figuring out how to decode motor control from the human brain. After more than 30 years of remarkable progress, blind patients were still unable to regain the fluent reading ability—until now.
The applications of Hodak’s work go far beyond existing medical priorities. He ponders a world where people with terminal diagnoses could choose to live on by uploading their consciousness using BCI, or brain-computer interface, technology. This brilliant concept instigates profound queries on who we are to one another and to our planet. In a time where new technologies continuously erase the lines between life and death,
Hodak’s experience at Neuralink taught him important lessons on ingenuity and neuroscience. Along with this, he knows that developing devices that work well is not enough. Devices must be safe for patients. Neuralink’s approach is novel in that the device would be small and low-power. This offers the potential for a full subcutaneous implantation. This mindful approach reduces risks of infections, which is the top priority in any medical device endeavors.
Ethical Considerations and Future Perspectives
As Science Corp moves forward with research and clinical trials, ethical questions are never far from Hodak’s thoughts. He’s concerned that BCI technologies have phenomenal merit. He acknowledges that these advancements pose serious risks in data privacy and manipulation. “I think Twitter’s a very dangerous thing.” … “I mean, I’m a lot more worried about Twitter, honestly,” he joked. In his comments, he noted examples of where information can readily be manipulated or misapplied.
Hodak takes on the charge, which some BCI companies are often criticized for, that they’re not pushing the frontiers of new neuroscience. He fully recognizes this concern but wants to assure everyone of Science Corp’s commitment to ‘going there’ through their research programs. A valid complaint about the BCI companies is that they’re not engaging in innovative neuroscience, he added. His goal is to begin to shift that narrative by going where few cognitive scientists have gone before.
Yet the future of BCI technology seems to promise extraordinary possibilities. Hodak sees a horizon littered with revolutionary healthcare breakthroughs. Such advancements might open up totally new avenues for effective treatments to diseases like cancer, heart disease and so many others. He absolutely believes that we can – and need to – cure cancer, cardiovascular disease, and every metabolic disease. That potential is within our reach if we continue to innovate.
