this post was submitted on 29 May 2025
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Musk's Neuralink raises fresh cash at $9 billion valuation, Semafor reports (www.reuters.com)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink raised $600 million in a deal that values the company at $9 billion before the new cash, Semafor reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Neuralink did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The startup was estimated to be valued at $5 billion in 2023, based on privately executed stock trades described to Reuters. The company had previously raised $280 million in a funding round led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

In April, Bloomberg News reported that the company was planning to raise about $500 million. Neuralink is in the process of testing its implant, which is intended to help people with spinal cord injuries. The device has allowed the first patient to play video games, browse the internet, post on social media and move a cursor on his laptop directly with his brain.

Earlier this month, Neuralink received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "breakthrough" tag for its device.

Musk has expressed grand ambitions for the company, saying its chip would allow healthy and disabled people alike to pop into neighborhood facilities for speedy surgical insertions of devices to treat obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia. He even sees them being used for web-surfing and telepathy.

Certainly is an oddly timed breakup

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[–] untakenusername@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 week ago (6 children)

the billionares controlling the govt are now officially trying to put chips in our brains

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 16 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Seriously, why aren't all of the 'Covid vaccines are implanting microchips' conspiracy theorists losing their goddamn minds over Neuralink?

[–] kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Because 99% of them are Trump and Musk's ass lickers. edit: and if they will tell them to put these chips in their brain they will do it at once.

[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago

Because when the antichrist (no seriously, look it up, i'm convinced Trump is the Antichrist) does it they line up and give him the good sloppy

[–] AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Well you need someone to control the narrative, so if there's no one being tasked by an administration to actively spread a conspiracy, it's harder to get people to embrace it.

Reuters reported last summer that the Pentagon had a campaign to spread online disinformation about China's vaccine Doesn't really seem too far fetched to think something similar was used against Americans by the same people that would now benefit from Americans being blissfully unaware of how dangerous it is to put one of these chips in their brain. After all, it has an official breakthrough tag now, and if it was really so dangerous "why would the FDA approve it?"

Not sure if you remember, but we were also one of the only countries that tried to downplay the effectiveness of people wearing masks during the earliest days of the pandemic. That was one I never could figure out back then, but now I'm suspicious that was also part of a targeted disinformation campaign.

March 2020 White House seeks assistance from tech companies in fight against coronavirus

The White House on Wednesday asked the tech industry’s top players to help the government in the fight against coronavirus, tapping the expertise of companies like Apple, Facebook and Amazon to help beat back falsehoods and use artificial intelligence to glean new insights into the fast-spreading virus.

In a phone call, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios implored the companies to help out with an “all-hands-on-deck effort” to fight the new coronavirus.

According to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, top tech trade groups and companies participated in the call, including Apple, Cisco, Google, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Twitter, the Consumer Technology Association, the Information Technology Industry Council and others.

The meeting revolved around how the tech industry can better coordinate with the government to get out authoritative facts about the coronavirus while cracking down on the spread of bunk cures and conspiracy theories spreading online.

So with all those people and their resources controlling the narrative, why would we then be spreading misinformation about masking? Why would anybody care if large numbers of Americans were covering their face to stop the spread of disease?

I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I do feel like the public should be more aware that Trump's former CTO and current science advisor, the guy who was also tasked with preventing online disinformation being spread during COVID, was also tirelessly promoting deregulated facial recognition technology long before anyone was considering that masking in public would be common in the U.S.

Nov 2019: Trump CTO Addresses AI, Facial Recognition, Immigration, Tech Infrastructure, and More

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