Y Combinator Startup Podcast The Future Of Brain-Computer Interfaces with Science's Max Hodak
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Mar 9, 2026 
Max Hodak, Neuralink co-founder and founder of neurotech company Science, explores brain-computer interfaces that could restore sight. He talks about tiny retinal implants, how the brain adapts to new signals, what artificial vision feels like, and why neural engineering could transform medicine. He also gets into biohybrid implants, longevity, and brain-to-brain possibilities.
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How Science Restores Sight With A Retinal Implant
- Science implanted a 2 mm by 2 mm retinal chip that uses projected laser light to stimulate surviving retinal cells and bypass dead rods and cones.
- Max Hodak said 40-plus trial patients received it, the Europe study showed a huge effect, and one patient could read again after years of blindness.
BCI Will Be A Category Not One Device
- Max Hodak argues BCIs will become a category like pharma, with different probes and modalities for vision, movement, hearing, sleep, focus, and eventually enhancement.
- He says current motor decoders deliver roughly 10 bits per second, so healthy people would not rationally choose serious brain surgery over keyboards or speech.
Adult Brains Stay Plastic Under Feedback
- Neuroplasticity has real limits from early critical periods, but adult brains still adapt rapidly when they receive clear feedback.
- Max Hodak said people can learn to control a flashed neuron within minutes, and early motor-decoder experiments fixed neuron weights and let the brain figure out the mapping.