Elon Musk Claims Human Brain-Chip Could Start Trials in 6 Months
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Elon Musk has claimed that a wireless chip developed by his company Neuralink could start human clinical trials in six months.
The company hosted an event at Neuralink's headquarters in California on Wednesday. The "show-and-tell" event was originally scheduled for October 31 but Musk postponed it without providing a reason, Business Insider reported.
Taking to Twitter after the event, the billionaire said: "We are now confident that the Neuralink device is ready for humans, so timing is a function of working through the FDA approval process."
Neuralink's brain chip, which is around the size of a coin, has tiny wires embedded with electrodes that aim to monitor brain activity and electrically stimulate the brain. Neuralink aims to embed the chip into a person's skull with a robot the company is also developing.
At the event, Musk demonstrated the brain-computer interface technology by showing a video of a monkey apparently fitted with a Neuralink brain chip. The creature was said to be "telepathically typing."
Musk has grand ambitions for the technology when applied to humans.
At first, the brain-computer interface hopes to give those suffering from paralyzing conditions a way to communicate via their thoughts. In the future, Musk says the company plans to develop technology that could restore full-body functionality to someone with a severed spinal cord, for example.
Musk has set — and missed — multiple timelines for getting Neuralink's brain chips into humans.
In 2019, Musk said the company hoped to get a brain chip into a human patient by the end of 2020. In 2020, Musk claimed that human trials could begin within the year, he then made the same claim in early 2021.
Representatives for Neuralink did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.
