Brain chips like the ones Neuralink, owned by Elon Musk, makes have become one of the latest arenas of competition between the U.S. and China in the life sciences. According to Axios, this technology has raised new hopes for patients with stroke, Parkinson’s, and other neurological disorders, and billionaire tech figures’ multibillion-dollar investments have accelerated the development of biotech companies working on brain-computer interfaces.
However, the "National Commission on Emerging Biotechnology Security" that Congress created to examine biotechnology’s impact on national security warns in an analysis that China is overtaking the U.S. in this field by focusing heavily on manufacturing, data, and commercialization. According to the report, the consequences of this competition could extend beyond healthcare and affect U.S. military capabilities and the training of next-generation AI models.
The use of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) is gradually expanding. Companies like Neuralink, Precision Neuroscience, Paradromics, and Synchron are testing applications including helping people who have lost the ability to speak communicate. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have also reduced the time needed to calibrate a device to a patient’s brain signals and to use those signals for tasks such as controlling prosthetic limbs.
China took a major step this spring when its National Medical Products Administration issued the world’s first commercial approval for an implanted brain-computer interface. The device is designed to restore hand movement in people with spinal cord injuries. This move is part of a strategy that lists brain-computer interfaces, alongside quantum computing and 6G wireless communications, among China’s "industries of the future."
The U.S. commission says regulatory barriers and financing problems have slowed the development of brain-computer interfaces in the U.S. and shifted the advantage to China. New treatments for neurological disorders on average require more than 11 years to obtain approval. The commission has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to create a clearer pathway for bringing brain chips to market and has urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to devise a mechanism to cover the costs of approved devices.
Todd Young, the Republican senator and commission chair, says China is advancing strategic technologies like brain-computer interfaces faster than the U.S. and that the U.S. government needs a coordinated strategy to support innovation and commercialization.
At the same time, the technology raises questions about device and brain-data ownership and how privacy laws would be applied. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has said increasing patients’ control over their data may require new laws, although limiting developers’ access to data could make it harder to improve algorithms that decode brain signals. Such regulations could also impede the use of neural data for insurance and employment decisions or to assess people’s involuntary reactions to advertising. According to the commission’s report, China currently has no special regulations for the privacy and security of neural data.
Brain chips remain in development and many fail within the first year. Experts say improving materials, coatings, and batteries could reduce signal degradation and extend device lifespan. Recruiting suitable patients for clinical trials is also difficult, because they must, despite severe disabilities, be healthy enough to tolerate brain surgery.
In the U.S., one current topic of interest is the possibility of including brain chips in the Trump administration’s program to accelerate coverage for certain breakthrough medical devices. In the long term, brain-computer interfaces may also find nonmedical applications, including operators controlling drone swarms with their minds.