Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp expects to start inserting its wireless brain chip into human patients within six months, the US-based company said at an event yesterday.
Neuralink is developing a brain chip implant that it says could enable disabled patients to move and communicate again, which it demonstrated with a video of a monkey typing on a keyboard to order snacks using 'telepathic typing' with the chip communicating messages from its brain to a computer.
A Neuralink-trained monkey doing Telepathic Typing, using just his mind ???? @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/PUkFA9qpUi
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) December 1, 2022
It needs approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before it can start clinical trials on people.
Earlier this year, the company was forced to admit it had to euthanise eight animals as it responded to a complaint filed to the FDA by a pressure group of US physicians over claims it had "mutilated" the brains of several laboratory-kept monkeys.
"We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human," Musk told the event.
Musk, one of Neuralink’s founders, also revealed that the chip will seek to restore vision.
"Even if someone has never had vision, ever, like they were born blind, we believe we can still restore vision," he said.
Neuralink can restore vision even if you were born blind ???? @elonmusk
— Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) December 1, 2022