Dr. Joshua Bederson places Precision Neuroscience’s electrodes onto a brain.
Ashley Capoot
As the lights dimmed in an operating room at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, Dr. Joshua Bederson prepared to make history.
Bederson, system chair for the Department of Neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Health System, is no stranger to long hours in an operating room. The former competitive gymnast has completed more than 6,500 procedures in his career, and he said he visualizes the steps for each one as if he’s rehearsing for a routine.
On this particular morning in April, Bederson was readying for a meningioma resection case, which meant he would be removing a benign brain tumor. Bederson said his primary focus is always on caring for the patient, but in some cases, he also gets to help advance science.
This procedure was one such case.
A small crowd gathered as Bederson took his seat in the operating room, his silhouette aglow from the bright white light shining on the patient in front of him. Health-care workers, scientists and CNBC craned forward – some peering through windows – to watch as Bederson placed four electrode arrays from Precision Neuroscience onto the surface of the patient’s brain for the first time.
An electrode is a small sensor that can detect and carry an electrical signal, and an array is a grid of electrodes. Neurosurgeons use electrodes during some procedures to help monitor and avoid important parts of the brain, like areas that control speech and movement.
Precision is a three-year-old startup building a brain-computer interface, or a BCI. A BCI is a system that decodes neural signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. Perhaps the best-known company in the field is Neuralink, which is owned by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Other companies like Synchron and Paradromics have also developed BCI systems, though their goals and designs all vary. The first application of Precision’s system will be to help patients with severe paralysis restore functions like speech and movement, according to its website.
Stephanie Rider of Precision Neuroscience inspects the company’s microelectrode array
Source: Precision Neuroscience
Precision’s flagship BCI is called the Layer 7 Cortical Interface. It’s a microelectrode array that’s thinner than a human hair, and it resembles a piece of yellow scotch tape. Each array is made up of 1,024 electrodes, and Precision says it can conform to the brain’s surface without damaging any tissue.
When Bederson used four of the company’s arrays during the surgery in April, he set a record for the highest number of electrodes to be placed on the brain in real-time, according to Precision. But perhaps more importantly, the arrays were able to detect signals from the patient’s individual fingers, which is a far greater amount of detail than standard electrodes are able to capture.
Using Precision’s electrode array is like turning a pixilated, low-resolution image into a 4K image, said Ignacio Saez, an associate professor of neuroscience, neurosurgery and neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Saez and his team oversee Precision’s work with Mount Sinai.
“Instead of having 10 electrodes, you’re giving me 1,000 electrodes,” Saez told CNBC in an interview. “The depth and the resolution and the detail that you’re going to get are completely different, even though they somehow reflect the same underlying neurological activity.”
Bederson said accessing this level of detail could help doctors be more delicate with their surgeries and other interventions in the future. For Precision, the ability to record and decode signals from individual fingers will be crucial as the company works to eventually help patients restore fine motor control.
The data marks a milestone for Precision, but there’s a long road ahead before it achieves some of its loftier goals. The company is still working toward approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and it has yet to implant a patient with a more permanent version of its technology.
“I think these are little baby steps towards the ultimate goal of brain-computer interface,” Bederson told CNBC in an interview.
Inside the operating room
Dr. Joshua Bederson prepares for surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital.
Ashley Capoot
Bederson’s surgery in April was not Precision’s first rodeo. In fact, it marked the 14th time that the company has placed its array on a human patient’s brain.
Precision has been partnering with academic medical centers and health systems to perform a series of first-in-human clinical studies. The goal of each study varies, and the company announced its collaboration with Mount Sinai in March.
At Mount Sinai, Precision is exploring different applications for its array in clinical settings, like how it can be used to help monitor the brain during surgery. In these procedures, surgeons like Bederson temporarily place Precision’s array onto patients who are already undergoing brain surgery for a medical reason.
Patients give their consent to participate beforehand.
It’s routine for neurosurgeons to map brain signals with electrodes during these types of procedures. Bederson said the current accepted practice is to use anywhere between four to almost 100 electrodes – a far cry from the 4,096 electrodes he was preparing to test.
Electrode arrays from Precision Neuroscience displayed on a table.
Ashley Capoot
Precision’s arrays are in use for a short portion of these surgeries, so CNBC joined the operating room in April once the procedure was already underway.
The patient, who asked to remain anonymous, was asleep. Bederson’s team had already removed part of their skull, which left an opening about the size of a credit card. Four of Precision’s arrays were carefully laid out on a table nearby.
Once the patient was stabilized, Precision’s employees trickled into the operating room. They helped affix the arrays in an arc around the opening on the patient’s head, and connected bundles of long blue wires at the other end to a cart full of equipment and monitors.
Dr. Benjamin Rapoport, Precision’s co-founder and chief scientific officer, quietly looked on. Every major procedure presents some risks, but the soft-spoken neurosurgeon’s calm demeanor never wavered. He told CNBC that each new case is just as exciting as the last, especially since the company is still learning.
Experts help set up the wiring for Precision Neuroscience’s technology.
Ashley Capoot
Bederson entered the operating room as Precision’s preparations neared their end. He helped make some final tweaks to the set up, and the overhead lights in the operating room were turned off.
Ongoing chatter quieted to hushed whispers. Bederson was ready to get started.
He began by carefully pulling back a fibrous membrane called the dura to reveal the surface of the brain. He laid a standard strip of electrodes onto the tissue for a few minutes, and then it was time to test Precision’s technology.
Using a pair of yellow tweezers called long bayonet forceps, Bederson began placing all four of Precision’s electrode arrays onto the patient’s brain. He positioned the first two arrays with ease, but the last two proved slightly more challenging.
Bederson was working with a small section of brain tissue, which meant the arrays needed to be angled just right to lay flat. For reference, imagine arranging the ends of four separate tape measures within a surface area roughly the size of a rubber band. It took a little reconfiguring, but after a couple of minutes, Bederson made it happen.
Real-time renderings of the patient’s brain activity swept across Precision’s monitors in the operating room. All four arrays were working.
In an interview after the surgery, Bederson said it was “complicated” and “a little bit awkward” to place all four arrays at once. From a design perspective, he said two arrays with twice as many points of contact, or longer arrays with greater spacing would have been helpful.
Bederson compared the arrays to spaghetti, and the description was apt. From where CNBC was watching, it was hard to tell where one stopped and the next began.
Once all the arrays were placed and actively detecting signals, Precision’s Rapoport stood with his team by the monitors to help oversee data collection. He said the research is the product of a true team effort from the company, the health system and the patient, who often doesn’t get to see the benefits of the technology at this stage.
“It takes a village to make this sort of thing move forward,” Rapoport said.
CNBC left the operating room as Bederson began removing the tumor, but he said the case went well. The patient woke up afterward with some weakness in their foot since the surgery was within that part of the brain, but Bederson said he expected the foot would recover in around three to four weeks.
Employees from Precision Neuroscience collecting data.
Ashley Capoot
Rapoport was present at this particular surgery because of his role with Precision, but he’s well acquainted with the operating rooms at Mount Sinai.
Rapoport is a practicing surgeon and serves as an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Rapoport reports to Bederson, and Bederson said the pair have known one another since Rapoport was in residency at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Dr. Thomas Oxley, the CEO of the competing BCI company Synchron, is also a faculty member under Bederson. Synchron has built a stent-like BCI that can be inserted through a patient’s blood vessels. As of early February, the company had implanted its system into 10 human patients. It is also working toward FDA approval.
Bederson has an equity stake in Synchron, but he told CNBC he didn’t realize how much it would prevent him from participating in research with the Synchron team. He has no monetary investment in Precision.
“I really did not want to have any financial interest in Precision because I think it has an equally promising future and wanted to advance the science as fast as I could,” Bederson said.
Rapoport also helped co-found Musk’s Neuralink in 2017, though he departed the company the following year. Neuralink is building a BCI designed to be inserted directly into the brain tissue, and the company recently received approval to implant its second human patient, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
As the BCI industry heats up, Bederson said the amount that scientists understand about the brain is poised to “explode” over the next several years. Companies like Precision are just getting started.
Dr. Joshua Bederson helps set up Precision Neuroscience’s electrode arrays.
Ashley Capoot
“I really feel like the future is where the excitement is,” Bederson said.
Rapoport said Precision is hoping to receive FDA approval for the wired version of its system “within a few months.” This version, which is what CNBC saw in the operating room, would be for use in a hospital setting or monitored care unit for up to 30 days at a time, he said.
Precision’s permanent implant, which will transmit signals wirelessly, will go through a separate approval process with the FDA.
Rapoport said Precision hopes to implant “a few dozen” patients with the wired version of its technology by the end of the year. That data collection would give the company a “very high level of confidence” in its ability to decode movement and speech signals in real-time, he said.
“Within a few years, we’ll have a much more advanced version of the technology out,” Rapoport said.
Hidden among the majestic canyons of the Utah desert, about 7 miles from the nearest town, is a small research facility meant to prepare humans for life on Mars.
The Mars Society, a nonprofit organization that runs the Mars Desert Research Station, or MDRS, invited CNBC to shadow one of its analog crews on a recent mission.
“MDRS is the best analog astronaut environment,” said Urban Koi, who served as health and safety officer for Crew 315. “The terrain is extremely similar to the Mars terrain and the protocols, research, science and engineering that occurs here is very similar to what we would do if we were to travel to Mars.”
SpaceX CEO and Mars advocate Elon Musk has said his company can get humans to Mars as early as 2029.
The 5-person Crew 315 spent two weeks living at the research station following the same procedures that they would on Mars.
David Laude, who served as the crew’s commander, described a typical day.
“So we all gather around by 7 a.m. around a common table in the upper deck and we have breakfast,” he said. “Around 8:00 we have our first meeting of the day where we plan out the day. And then in the morning, we usually have an EVA of two or three people and usually another one in the afternoon.”
An EVA refers to extravehicular activity. In NASA speak, EVAs refer to spacewalks, when astronauts leave the pressurized space station and must wear spacesuits to survive in space.
“I think the most challenging thing about these analog missions is just getting into a rhythm. … Although here the risk is lower, on Mars performing those daily tasks are what keeps us alive,” said Michael Andrews, the engineer for Crew 315.
Formula One F1 – United States Grand Prix – Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, U.S. – October 23, 2022 Tim Cook waves the chequered flag to the race winner Red Bull’s Max Verstappen
Mike Segar | Reuters
Apple had two major launches last month. They couldn’t have been more different.
First, Apple revealed some of the artificial intelligence advancements it had been working on in the past year when it released developer versions of its operating systems to muted applause at its annual developer’s conference, WWDC. Then, at the end of the month, Apple hit the red carpet as its first true blockbuster movie, “F1,” debuted to over $155 million — and glowing reviews — in its first weekend.
While “F1” was a victory lap for Apple, highlighting the strength of its long-term outlook, the growth of its services business and its ability to tap into culture, Wall Street’s reaction to the company’s AI announcements at WWDC suggest there’s some trouble underneath the hood.
“F1” showed Apple at its best — in particular, its ability to invest in new, long-term projects. When Apple TV+ launched in 2019, it had only a handful of original shows and one movie, a film festival darling called “Hala” that didn’t even share its box office revenue.
Despite Apple TV+being written off as a costly side-project, Apple stuck with its plan over the years, expanding its staff and operation in Culver City, California. That allowed the company to build up Hollywood connections, especially for TV shows, and build an entertainment track record. Now, an Apple Original can lead the box office on a summer weekend, the prime season for blockbuster films.
The success of “F1” also highlights Apple’s significant marketing machine and ability to get big-name talent to appear with its leadership. Apple pulled out all the stops to market the movie, including using its Wallet app to send a push notification with a discount for tickets to the film. To promote “F1,” Cook appeared with movie star Brad Pitt at an Apple store in New York and posted a video with actual F1 racer Lewis Hamilton, who was one of the film’s producers.
(L-R) Brad Pitt, Lewis Hamilton, Tim Cook, and Damson Idris attend the World Premiere of “F1: The Movie” in Times Square on June 16, 2025 in New York City.
Jamie Mccarthy | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Although Apple services chief Eddy Cue said in a recent interview that Apple needs the its film business to be profitable to “continue to do great things,” “F1” isn’t just about the bottom line for the company.
Apple’s Hollywood productions are perhaps the most prominent face of the company’s services business, a profit engine that has been an investor favorite since the iPhone maker started highlighting the division in 2016.
Films will only ever be a small fraction of the services unit, which also includes payments, iCloud subscriptions, magazine bundles, Apple Music, game bundles, warranties, fees related to digital payments and ad sales. Plus, even the biggest box office smashes would be small on Apple’s scale — the company does over $1 billion in sales on average every day.
But movies are the only services component that can get celebrities like Pitt or George Clooney to appear next to an Apple logo — and the success of “F1” means that Apple could do more big popcorn films in the future.
“Nothing breeds success or inspires future investment like a current success,” said Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
But if “F1” is a sign that Apple’s services business is in full throttle, the company’s AI struggles are a “check engine” light that won’t turn off.
Replacing Siri’s engine
At WWDC last month, Wall Street was eager to hear about the company’s plans for Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI features that it first revealed in 2024. Apple Intelligence, which is a key tenet of the company’s hardware products, had a rollout marred by delays and underwhelming features.
Apple spent most of WWDC going over smaller machine learning features, but did not reveal what investors and consumers increasingly want: A sophisticated Siri that can converse fluidly and get stuff done, like making a restaurant reservation. In the age of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, the expectation of AI assistants among consumers is growing beyond “Siri, how’s the weather?”
The company had previewed a significantly improved Siri in the summer of 2024, but earlier this year, those features were delayed to sometime in 2026. At WWDC, Apple didn’t offer any updates about the improved Siri beyond that the company was “continuing its work to deliver” the features in the “coming year.” Some observers reduced their expectations for Apple’s AI after the conference.
“Current expectations for Apple Intelligence to kickstart a super upgrade cycle are too high, in our view,” wrote Jefferies analysts this week.
Siri should be an example of how Apple’s ability to improve products and projects over the long-term makes it tough to compete with.
It beat nearly every other voice assistant to market when it first debuted on iPhones in 2011. Fourteen years later, Siri remains essentially the same one-off, rigid, question-and-answer system that struggles with open-ended questions and dates, even after the invention in recent years of sophisticated voice bots based on generative AI technology that can hold a conversation.
Apple’s strongest rivals, including Android parent Google, have done way more to integrate sophisticated AI assistants into their devices than Apple has. And Google doesn’t have the same reflex against collecting data and cloud processing as privacy-obsessed Apple.
Some analysts have said they believe Apple has a few years before the company’s lack of competitive AI features will start to show up in device sales, given the company’s large installed base and high customer loyalty. But Apple can’t get lapped before it re-enters the race, and its former design guru Jony Ive is now working on new hardware with OpenAI, ramping up the pressure in Cupertino.
“The three-year problem, which is within an investment time frame, is that Android is racing ahead,” Needham senior internet analyst Laura Martin said on CNBC this week.
Apple’s services success with projects like “F1” is an example of what the company can do when it sets clear goals in public and then executes them over extended time-frames.
Its AI strategy could use a similar long-term plan, as customers and investors wonder when Apple will fully embrace the technology that has captivated Silicon Valley.
Wall Street’s anxiety over Apple’s AI struggles was evident this week after Bloomberg reported that Apple was considering replacing Siri’s engine with Anthropic or OpenAI’s technology, as opposed to its own foundation models.
The move, if it were to happen, would contradict one of Apple’s most important strategies in the Cook era: Apple wants to own its core technologies, like the touchscreen, processor, modem and maps software, not buy them from suppliers.
Using external technology would be an admission that Apple Foundation Models aren’t good enough yet for what the company wants to do with Siri.
“They’ve fallen farther and farther behind, and they need to supercharge their generative AI efforts” Martin said. “They can’t do that internally.”
Apple might even pay billions for the use of Anthropic’s AI software, according to the Bloombergreport. If Apple were to pay for AI, it would be a reversal from current services deals, like the search deal with Alphabet where the Cupertino company gets paid $20 billion per year to push iPhone traffic to Google Search.
The company didn’t confirm the report and declined comment, but Wall Street welcomed the report and Apple shares rose.
In the world of AI in Silicon Valley, signing bonuses for the kinds of engineers that can develop new models can range up to $100 million, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“I can’t see Apple doing that,” Martin said.
Earlier this week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent a memo bragging about hiring 11 AI experts from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google’s DeepMind. That came after Zuckerberg hired Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang to lead a new AI division as part of a $14.3 billion deal.
Meta’s not the only company to spend hundreds of millions on AI celebrities to get them in the building. Google spent big to hire away the founders of Character.AI, Microsoft got its AI leader by striking a deal with Inflection and Amazon hired the executive team of Adept to bulk up its AI roster.
Apple, on the other hand, hasn’t announced any big AI hires in recent years. While Cook rubs shoulders with Pitt, the actual race may be passing Apple by.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who bombarded President Donald Trump‘s signature spending bill for weeks, on Friday made his first comments since the legislation passed.
Musk backed a post on X by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who said the bill’s budget “explodes the deficit” and continues a pattern of “short-term politicking over long-term sustainability.”
The House of Representatives narrowly passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Thursday, sending it to Trump to sign into law.
Paul and Musk have been vocal opponents of Trump’s tax and spending bill, and repeatedly called out the potential for the spending package to increase the national debt.
The independent Congressional Budget Office has said the bill could add $3.4 trillion to the $36.2 trillion of U.S. debt over the next decade. The White House has labeled the agency as “partisan” and continuously refuted the CBO’s estimates.
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The bill includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts, increased spending for immigration enforcement and large cuts to funding for Medicaid and other programs.
It also cuts tax credits and support for solar and wind energy and electric vehicles, a particularly sore spot for Musk, who has several companies that benefit from the programs.
“I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump wrote in a social media post in early June as the pair traded insults and threats.
Shares of Tesla plummeted as the feud intensified, with the company losing $152 billion in market cap on June 5 and putting the company below $1 trillion in value. The stock has largely rebounded since, but is still below where it was trading before the ruckus with Trump.
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Tesla one-month stock chart.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger and Erin Doherty contributed to this article.