In the short-term, Musk's Neuralink is hoping to help solve major neurological issues. In the medium-term, the company wants to achieve brain-machine interface.
But in the long-term, things get "pretty weird," Musk said. In short, Musk is hoping Neuralink will help to "achieve a sort of symbiosis with artificial intelligence."
This comes with some pretty big assumptions, the most basic of which is that artificial intelligence will become so advanced that it matches or surpasses human intelligence. But, assuming it does — as Musk clearly believes — achieving that symbiosis could be "really important at a civilization-level scale."
His biggest worry is that AI will outright surpass human intelligence and "we will be left behind" as a species. But, if our species can create a "high-bandwidth brain-machine interface," then we might stand a chance of keeping up.
"We can actually go along for the ride," Musk said, "and we can effectively have the option of merging with AI."
Again, this isn't happening any time soon, according to Musk.