Neuralink Chip Could Be Implanted into Human Brain This Year
A Neuralink chip could be implanted into the human brain already in 2023, says Elon Musk. The first recipient will likely be a person who suffers from paralysis of the limbs.
About Neuralink
Neuralink is a company founded by Elon Musk in 2016. It is developing a brain-computer interface called Link. This is a neural chip that is implanted in the patient’s brain to decode and stimulate brain activity. Link will allow people with paralysis to restore movement and restore sight to those born blind.
A coin-sized brain chip is surgically implanted under the patient’s skull. There, it receives information from neural threads that fan out to different parts of the subject’s brain, controlling motor skills. In addition, Neuralink has created a special robot that will carry out the operation. Each chip’s wire contains 1024 electrodes, which are sensors capable of registering and emitting electrical currents. They are so thin and flexible that they cannot be inserted by a human hand.
The first Neuralink chip will be implanted in 2023
Elon Musk spoke at the VivaTech conference, which took place in Paris. During the interview, answering a question from the audience, he said that Neuralink wants to implant a chip in the human brain before the end of this year. He made the statement on Friday at an event in Paris. Musk said the recipient would likely be someone who suffers from a “form of quadriplegia,” meaning paralyzed limbs.
“It will be a very slow process. We will start with strong conditions where the connection between the brain and the body has been interrupted. We see a path to transfer the signal beyond the broken point to restore full body use. You can imagine how profound the impact would be,” he said.
Recently Neuralink received approval for first human trials
At the end of May, Neuralink received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct its first human clinical trial. This was a big breakthrough for the company. At the time, Neuralink stated it would not rush into testing. However, getting the approval showed that the technology is already good enough to move on to a new phase of testing.
Neuralink has already tested chips on monkeys
Neuralink aims to use its chips to treat paralysis and blindness. They can also help people with disabilities use computers and mobile technologies. Previously, the chips have been tested on monkeys. They interpreted the signals generated by the brain and transmitted information to devices via Bluetooth.