Hey, this is Mike. Before we start, I want to take the chance to remind you that we want to hear from you. Do you have a question around AI or politics or privacy that has been on your mind? Or just a topic that you wish that we talked about on the show? If so, you can write to us at Uncanny Valley at Wired.com. And if you listen to and enjoy our episodes, please rate the show and leave a review on your podcast app of choice. It really helps other people find us. Lauren, how you doing? I'm hanging in there. Yeah? It's been a hectic week, but hectic in a good way, I think. Yeah, you've been very busy writing a lot of big scoops for Wired.com.

Not a lot. But, you know, enough. The business desk at Wired has been really busy this week. Of which you are a part. That's right. Yes. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks. Wow, you rarely hear that these days. I know. We can probably just wrap the podcast now. How are you feeling about the fact that Katie is not with us this week?

You know, I think that she I know. We can probably just wrap the podcast now. How are you feeling about the fact that Katie is not with us this week?

You know, I think that she is going to stun and surprise us all with our third weekly episode that she's planning. Right now, we have two episodes a week of the show. She's working on this project that's going to bring a third episode to the show.

And I think we're all going to be very impressed by it. So it is bittersweet. She's not here.

But the sweet part is that we get a third drop in the feed every week. Yeah. I think it's going to be

really good. Yeah. And also that means Katie still has time to run wired, which is another thing that she does on the side. I thought you're going to say run nine miles a day. That too. She also runs, runs, runs. But yeah, no, here we are. Just you and I in the San Francisco office dealing with the fog. It's very foggy this time of year. People don't think that when they think of California,

but it is. And is it just me and you? No, we have a guest. We have Emily Mullen on the show.

You're kidding. No, we're going to bring her on in just a minute. Let's do it.

This is Wired's Uncanny Valley, a show about the people, power, and influence of Silicon Valley.

Today we are talking about brain computer interfaces. They're also known as brain machine interfaces,

or just BCIs for short. But whatever you call them, these are pretty incredible systems that allow direct communication between the brain and a digital device, like a computer or a phone.

People who have had a BCI surgically implanted can use their thoughts as commands to make machines perform different tasks.

There's currently a race underway in Silicon Valley to build a model that will stand out from the rest.

And among the frontrunners are Elon Musk's Neurrelink and a New York-based startup called Synchron. We'll dive into why the competition is

heating up between these two companies and what the promises and limitations are behind this

futuristic technology. I'm Michael Colori, Director of Consumer Tech and Culture here at Wired.

I'm Lauren Good. I'm a senior correspondent at Wired.

We are positively spoiled today to have a guest on the show who is reported on brain

computer interfaces extensively, Wired's Emily Mullen.

Hello.

Emily, do you have a brain implant yet?

...