This could be interesting!

Elon Musk is due to demonstrate a working brain-to-machine interface as part of his ambitious plans to give people superhuman powers.

His brain-hacking company, Neuralink, applied to start human trials last year.

But Friday’s demonstration will involve a robot and “neurons firing in real time”, a series of tweets reveals.

The interface could allow people with neurological conditions to control phones or computers with their mind.

But the long-term ambition is to usher in an age of what Mr Musk calls “superhuman cognition”.

People need to merge with artificial intelligence, he says, in part to avoid a scenario where AI becomes so powerful it destroys the human race.

Founded in 2017, Neuralink has worked hard to recruit scientists, something Mr Musk was still advertising for on Twitter last month.

The device the company is developing consists of a tiny probe containing more than 3,000 electrodes attached to flexible threads thinner than a human hair, which can monitor the activity of 1,000 brain neurons.

In its last update, more than a year ago, the company said it had carried out tests on a monkey that had been able to control a computer with its brain.