Elon Musk says brain implant could one day give humans telepathy, cure paralysis

Billionaire investor and tech luminary Elon Musk this week demonstrated technology he said could one day give human beings the ability to practice telepathy and even overcome chronic conditions like paralysis. 

Musk on Friday presented a device that he said was like "a Fitbit in your skull," developed by the company Neuralink, which Musk co-founded in 2016. 

In the demonstration, which was broadcast online, Musk presented the brain chip as a technology that could, among other things, "save and replay memories," cure blindness and even give people "superhuman vision." 

The company has been testing the device in pig subjects, with researchers claiming to have developed predictive detection readouts of pig behavior by using the chip. 

Though Musk presented the device as possibly revolutionary, the technology itself has been in circulation for some time. 

"All the technology that he showed has been already developed in some way or form," University of Utah neurobiology professor Jason Shepherd told Business Insider on Friday. "Essentially what they've done is just package it into a nice little form that then sends data wirelessly."