ALBAWABA – Elon Musk, the controversial billionaire and founder of Neuralink, has announced on X (previously Twitter) the start of Human trials with the first patient ever to receive the company’s anticipated chip with success, saying the patient is “recovering well” with preliminary data showing positive neuron spike detection.
Neuralink has announced earlier in May. 2023 that they received the green light from the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to kick-off their human clinical studies, noting on how important of a milestone this is for the team, considering it the first step to bring their technology to the public, with Reuters reporting that the company received a boost from investors helping it getting valued at $5 billion despite experts expecting a commercial release in at least 10 long years at the latest.
Elon Musk added in his announcements that the first Neuralink brain chip will be labeled “Telepathy”, initially targeted towards disabled patients suffering from loss of limbs to help them control external devices, drawing parallels in his Tweet to Stephen Hawking’s Speech Generation Device, saying the chip’s goal would be to make such individuals communicate quicker than a “speed typist or auctioneer”.
Neuralink receives FDA approval for first human clinical study, marking a significant milestoneWhile Musk did not add further details regarding the form of delivery for the chip, it is believed to have been inserted using Neuralink’s previously showcased surgical robots, which enables them to implant threads that are “thinner than a human hair” according to the company, which would connect the brain’s neurons to a digital interface allowing users to control different devices by simply thinking, Elon suggesting such devices could be a phone or a computer, or artificial limbs.
Neuralink has shown promising results with its animal studies, earlier showcasing healthy pigs live on stage with their brain chips implanted, as well as a monkey that is able to play video games using it’s thoughts, giving disabled people significant hopes for a future where they could interact with the world in a simpler fashion.
