Neuralink implant limitations

By: Renee Day

This blog was updated on November 20, 2025.

A wave of healthtech startups are pushing the frontier of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Elon Musk’s Neuralink has been a poster child in building these implantable medical devices that connect the brain to a machine. The Neuralink implant, for example, promises to help patients with paralysis communicate or move using thought alone and is currently undergoing clinical trials.

Along with Neuralink, other BCI startup companies have joined the neurotech space in helping patients restore lost capabilities. And there are a variety of competitive advantages that other companies have compared to Neuralink, as well as weaknesses, which collectively makes this an exciting space to explore developments across the field. 

One of the biggest differences across BCI devices are the type of neural signals measured by the device, i.e. whether it captures a less detailed view of brain activity like electrocorticography (ECoG) or the Stentrode BCI, for example, or whether the device captures more detailed measures of brain activity by recording individual neurons using intracortical microelectrodes. 

Overall, there are strengths and weaknesses of the Neuralink device and these limitations highlight why competitors like Paradromics have the opportunity to step up with next-generation BCI devices engineered to overcome common BCI limitations like lack of durability and low-data throughput. In this article, we outline the key limitations of the Neuralink implant and how Paradromics’ Connexus® BCI overcomes them, positioning Paradromics as an emerging leader in the BCI industry.

Key limitations of the Neuralink implant

While Neuralink’s vision is groundbreaking, its first-in-human efforts revealed several limitations. High-stakes investors and industry observers should note the following issues that have surfaced with Neuralink’s implant:

Specialized robotic surgery requirements: Neuralink developed a custom neurosurgical robot to delicately insert its flexible electrode “threads” into the brain with micron precision. While this robotic approach is technologically impressive, it lacks long-term safety evidence. As discussed in the linked paper, the surgery involves drilling a hole in the skull and using an automated inserter to weave ultrafine polymer threads into brain tissue while avoiding blood vessels. Few, if any, hospitals currently have this capability or capital investment potential outside Neuralink’s trial sites. 

Relying on a proprietary robot could hamper scalability. Each implantation must be performed at a specialized center and training on a brand-new robotic system and ensuring consistent results adds time and complexity. This is in contrast to more conventional and established approaches. For example, the Paradromics Connexus BCI implantation piggybacks on routine medical procedures that doctors are already familiar and comfortable with. Connexus BCI can be implanted in any hospital with the capabilities to do routine neurosurgical procedures.

Electrode material and longevity issues: Perhaps the most critical concern for Neuralink’s implant is whether its electrode design can endure long-term use in the human body. Neuralink’s device uses many hair-thin flexible polymer threads (each with multiple electrodes) to record brain signals. The threads’ flexibility aims to reduce tissue damage, but their material choice is not optimized for decades-long biocompatibility. In fact, industry experts note that polymeric neural interfaces suffer from a lack of long-term stability, with failures from moisture intrusion, delamination, or breakage over time. 

Limited data rate and performance: Despite packing 1,024 electrodes, the current Neuralink implant has demonstrated low information throughput in practice. Neuralink’s team has publicly reported that their first human patient was able to communicate at around 4 to 10 bits per second (bps) using the implant, below the bps of natural speech. This resembles the approximate bit rate of academic prototypes with lower electrode counts (up to 256), which have demonstrated the ability to decode speech at 62 words per minute, from a 125,00 word vocabulary. In terms of device capabilities, the upper limit has so far been established by Paradromics, with preclinical benchmark tests of the Connexus BCI device showing data rates north of 200 bps (with about 50ms of system delay).

Paradromics’ Connexus BCI: Overcoming Neuralink’s implant limitations

Paradromics has emerged as a formidable Neuralink competitor, with a BCI platform deliberately designed to overcome the limitations outlined above. Paradromics’ Connexus BCI design is focused on longevity, high data throughput, and practical surgical deployment. Here’s how Paradromics is engineering around the limitations of the Neuralink implant:

Proven materials for decades-long longevity: Paradromics built its implant with materials known for biocompatibility and stability in the body. The Connexus BCI uses platinum-iridium microwire electrodes and a hermetically sealed titanium alloy body, as opposed to the flexible polymer threads and plastics in Neuralink’s implant. The Connexus cortical module is designed to be water tight, critical for the salty and warm environment of the body. Neuralink design choices make long-term hermeticity unlikely.

Platinum-iridium is a medical-grade metal alloy that has been used in implants (like pacemakers and deep brain stimulators) for decades without corrosion or significant degradation. By choosing robust materials, Paradromics aims for its electrodes to last for many years or even decades inside the brain. This focus on durability directly tackles the implant lifespan issues, giving Paradromics an edge in achieving the 10+ year functional lifetime that many BCI users expect.

Innovative implant design to prevent “thread pull-out”: The physical form factor of the Connexus BCI is fundamentally different from Neuralink’s and is meant to make implantation safer and more repeatable. Paradromics uses a “cortical module” smaller than a dime that rests on the surface of the brain, with hundreds of fine microwires protruding downward into the cortex. Importantly, the module is not rigidly anchored to the skull; it is designed to move naturally with brain tissue. 

In Paradromics’ first-ever human test (an acute implantation in a volunteer patient during an epilepsy surgery), the team was able to insert and remove the device within 10 minutes, with no adverse effects. This quick, minimally disruptive procedure hints at how the Connexus BCI could be implanted in a routine neurosurgical setting. All 421 electrodes are implanted in less than one second with an EpiPen-like inserter. The ability to leverage existing surgical workflows and a design that mitigates electrode shear forces, gives Paradromics a path to more scalable and reliable implantation.

High data-rate neuroscience: Paradromics Connexus BCI has already proven capable of transmitting rich neural data (200+ bits per second) in pre-clinical tests, and Paradromics is preparing to launch a clinical trial aimed to translate those signals into text or synthesized speech in real time. 

High data-rate capacity not only means faster communication for patients, but it also opens the door to more complex BCI applications, from controlling robotic limbs with precision to capturing all the fluid dynamics of natural human speech.

Investor outlook: Paradromics vs. Neuralink in the BCI landscape

The brain-tech sector is undoubtedly challenging, but also poised to explode with innovation,  and potential returns as these devices mature. Neuralink, with Elon Musk’s backing, has achieved a sky-high valuation (around $9 billion as of 2025) on the promise of its technology. That valuation reflects big expectations. 

In contrast, Paradromics has flown a bit under the radar, but it is quickly proving itself with solid engineering and clinical milestones like an FDA Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) to begin the Connect-One Early Feasibility Study (EFS). Paradromics is well positioned as a viable alternative to Neuralink.

For high-stakes investors evaluating brain implants and neurotech ventures, the takeaway is clear: the first to overcome these technical hurdles will unlock not just clinical benefits for patients, but also leadership in a multi-billion-dollar future industry. Paradromics is making a compelling case that it can be the one to do so by designing a brain implant that lasts and can scale to lead the neurotech revolution.

For media inquiries, please contact: media@paradromics.com