Alexandr Wang, Meta’s AI chief and the company’s highest-paid: The wider industry impact

Alexandr Wang, Meta’s AI chief and the company’s highest-paid employee, has expressed a desire to delay starting a family until brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) like Elon Musk’s Neuralink reach a more advanced stage. During a recent appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, Wang discussed the implications of AI and human development, stating, “I want to wait to have kids until we figure out how Neuralink or other … start working.” His comments reflect a growing interest in the potential of BCIs to enhance human capabilities and their future role in society.

Because the brain did not learn to process signals from the eyes during the key period, he said that if the cataracts prevent a child from seeing during the early years of development, removing them later may not allow the child to develop normal vision. Wang said a brain-computer interface could eventually become integrated into the way a person’s brain works if it is introduced early enough.

“In your first like seven years of life, your brain is more neuroplastic than at any other point in your life, like by an order of magnitude,” Wang said. “When we get Neuralink and we get these other technologies, kids who are born with them are going to learn how to use them in like, crazy, crazy ways,” Wang said. “It’ll be a actually like a part of their brain in a way that it’ll never be true for an adult who gets like a neural link or whatever, hooked into their brain,” he said. “I believe a lot in AI,” Wang said, adding that he expects AI to become “smarter and smarter, more and more capable, more and more powerful. He said AI could eventually take different forms, including robots and other systems.

Wang’s reason is linked to how he believes children’s brains could adapt to the technology. During the podcast, he explained that the first several years of a child’s life are an important period for brain development. He argued that the high level of neuroplasticity during childhood could allow children who grow up with brain-computer interfaces to use the technology in ways that adults may not be able to. He then compared the idea with how children develop their ability to process information from their senses. Alexandr Wang described a case involving children born with cataracts. His view is that a similar effect could eventually apply to brain-computer interfaces. He believes this could be different for adults who receive an implant later in life. The Meta AI chief also connected his thinking about brain-computer interfaces to the rapid development of artificial intelligence. Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.