A high-stakes technology race is playing out in the human brain. Brain-computer interfaces are already letting people with paralysis control computers and communicate their needs, and will soon enable them to manipulate prosthetic limbs without moving a muscle. The year ahead is pivotal for the companies behind this technology. Fewer than 100 people to date have had brain-computer interfaces permanently installed. In the next 12 months, that number will more than double, provided the companies with new FDA experimental-use approval meet their goals in clinical trials. Apple this week announced its intention to allow these implants to control iPhones and other products. There are dozens of so-called “neurotech” startups. Four lead the field of implants: Paradromics, Synchron, Precision Neuroscience and Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which in some ways is the most ambitious of the four. All but Paradromics have reached the point at which they are putting tech inside people’s heads. Each has its own approach, and all offer reasons they believe their product will come out ahead. All four are betting they’ll eventually become a standard part of care for tens of thousands, perhaps even millions, of us. The prize they’re after: Morgan Stanley projects a $1 billion-a-year brain-computer implant market by 2041.

Full commentary : A look at Neuralink and other brain-computer interface startups, as the number of people with brain implants is set to double from ~100 in the next 12 months.