Kiwi scientists are competing with Elon Musk to control computers using human thoughts.
Australian company Synchron is moving forward with a large-scale human trial of a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) competing with Musk's Neuralink.
Meanwhile, our own scientists are planning a Kiwi version of the cutting-edge technology.
With no mouse, no keyboard and no touch screen, people are using computers and even playing video games with pure thought.
It's all made possible by using a chip inserted into their brains.
"Some of the most exciting current work on brain computer interfaces is happening just in our neck of the woods," University of Auckland Professor and TransAxon CEO Michael Witbrock said.
Competing with Musk's Neuralink, Australian company Synchron is moving forward with a large-scale human trial of its brain computer Interface, or BCI.
The chips are transformative for those with physical disabilities or neurological disorders, and Kiwi scientists believe the next step isn't far away.
"I think that there's a good chance that New Zealand, by taking on some really ambitious stretch goals in biology and in the intersection of biology and artificial intelligence, that we can be the world leader in this area of technology," Witbrock told Newshub.
Witbrock is the CEO of TransAxon, a New Zealand BCI startup promising a far less invasive way of implanting the chips.
The company's office is based in Auckland's suburb of Parnell.
"The idea is, you take a pill, and it gives some of your brain cells instructions to turn themselves into new neurons," he explained.
"It gives them a program to develop a new nerve trail, just like your spinal cord or your optic nerve, out to near the surface of the skin.
"But giving a computer connection to this new brain structure, you've got to connect yourself to the computer."
More advanced versions could completely transform our minds.
"We can only pay attention to one thing at once. If you think you can multitask, well, you can't. So that's very, very limiting," Witbrock stressed.
"You can't, for example, simultaneously read two parts of a document. You can't simultaneously have conversations with two different people. All of those limitations, are going to be up for revision."
He said people would be able to "just know things that are on the internet".
"You'll be able to, for example, solve mathematical problems because you'll be connected to an AI that can solve the mathematical problems," he said. "You'll be able to play perfect games of chess as well, but who cares?"
Witbrock says TransAxon's prototype is still at least a decade away, and requires next-generation AI tools that are still unproven.
However, a future where we aren't replaced by machines, and they just become part of us, is now in sight.
