Elon Musk expects Neuralink to begin human trials in six months trends now
Elon Musk has announced that a wireless device developed by his brain chip company Neuralink is expected to begin human clinical trials in six months, and one of its first targeted applications is restoring vision.
The new Twitter CEO held a 'Show and Tell' event on Wednesday where he spoke about how the brain chip interfaces could enable disabled patients to move and communicate again.
'It's like replacing a piece of the skull with a smartwatch,' he said.
The first two human applications targeted by the Neuralink device will be in restoring vision and enabling movement of muscles in people who cannot do so, Musk said.
'Even if someone has never had vision, ever, like they were born blind, we believe we can still restore vision,' he said.
Neuralink's last public presentation, more than a year ago, involved a monkey with a brain chip that played a computer game by thinking alone.
Musk is known for lofty goals such as colonizing Mars and saving humanity. His ambitions for Neuralink, which he launched in 2016, are of the same grand scale.
Elon Musk announced on Wednesday that a wireless device developed by his brain chip company Neuralink is expected to begin human clinical trials in just six months
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area and Austin, Texas, Neuralink has in recent years been conducting tests on animals as it seeks U.S. regulatory approval to begin clinical trials in people.
'We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human but we've submitted I think most of our paperwork to the FDA and probably in about six months we should be able to upload Neuralink in a human,' Musk said during a much-awaited public update on the device.
The event was originally planned for Oct. 31 but Musk postponed it just days before without giving a reason.
Musk wants to develop a chip that would allow the brain to control complex electronic devices and eventually allow people with paralysis to regain motor function and treat brain diseases such as Parkinson's, dementia, and Alzheimer's. He also talks about melding the brain with artificial intelligence.
'As miraculous as that may sound, we are confident that it is possible to restore full-body functionality to someone who has a severed spinal cord,' Musk said at the event.
In terms of Neuralink's vision work, Musk added that 'even if they have never seen before, we are confident they could see.'
Another Neuralink monkey, Sake, is typing with his brain. Sake spelled out the Neuralink event's welcome tag: 'Welcome to show and tell'
Sake was successfully implanted with Neuralink's upgraded device
Neuralink, however, is running behind schedule. Musk said in a 2019 presentation he was aiming to receive regulatory approval by the end of 2020. He then said at a conference in late 2021 that he hoped to start human trials this year.
Neuralink has repeatedly missed internal deadlines to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to start human trials, current and former employees have said.
Musk approached competitor Synchron earlier this year about a potential investment after he expressed frustration to Neuralink employees about their slow progress, Reuters reported in August.
Synchron crossed a major milestone in July by implanting its device in a patient in the United States for the first time. It received U.S. regulatory clearance for human trials in 2021 and has completed studies in four people in Australia.
The brain implant, pictured is a design shared in 2020, consists of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads
The goal is to develop a full-implanted brain-computer interface (BCI) for people with paralysis, allowing them to operate computers and mobile devices using their thoughts.
DailyMail.com obtained lab notes that claim to describe Neuralink's experiments of implanting electrodes into monkeys at the University of California, Davis, which may have helped the company progress to its current state.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) provided DailyMail.com with notes describing several animals 'vomiting, gasping and retching' following procedures, along with autopsy results for euthanized monkeys due to their declining health.
Musk started Neuralink in 2016 but has kept a tight lid on the firm's technology, developments, and most plans.
And even with the annual progress update event, the billionaire rarely shares information about his top-secret technology.
After the first glimpse of the chip, Musk presented a monkey playing Pong with its mind in April 2021. This monkey died in February
Neuralink's system consists of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads stitched into the brain by a 'sewing-machine-like' robot
Neuralink's system consists of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads stitched
