Elon Musk’s company Neuralink has announced the start of the first clinical trial to implant a computer chip in the human brain.
The company said it had received approval from an independent review board to recruit patients for a human trial.
The company will involve people with disabilities in the trial to test its experimental device, which has been in the works for six years.
Last year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) denied permission to Elon Musk’s company to implant a computer chip in the human brain, but then allowed clinical trials to begin in May 2023.
According to a statement issued by Neuralink, the clinical trial will recruit people who have been disabled due to spinal cord injury or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
These individuals will have a chip surgically implanted in the part of their brain that controls body movement, enabling them to control a computer cursor or keyboard with just their thoughts.
It is not yet clear how many people will be included in the clinical trial, but in December 2022 Neuralink announced that a coin-sized computer would be implanted into the brains of human patients.
The company has been working on the chip for a long time and claims that the chip will enable disabled people to move and talk again.
On this occasion, Elon Musk said that the goal of restoring vision with a brain chip has also been set.
He said that this device will be tested on 2 people first to restore their vision and muscle movement.
Neuralink last released progress on the device in 2021 when it was implanted in a monkey that was able to play a computer game with its thoughts.
It should be noted that the US government is already investigating Neuralink experiments on animals.