Human trials can begin. The authorities gave the green light to Musk’s brain chips – News

Neuralink, the company behind the brain implant of the same name, was introduced to the world by Musk in July 2019. Already at the first presentation, it looked like the research was so far ahead that it would be a matter of a few months at most before the chips appeared in the first people.

Since then, Musk has predicted four times that human tests will begin in the foreseeable future. In the end, it took nearly four years, but according to Reuters, officials from the FDA finally granted approval.

According to former and current Neuralink employees who spoke to Reuters in March, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the request to allow the tests was initially denied. Officials wanted to iron out some system-wide problems first. These included questions related to the device’s lithium battery, the mobility of the implant in the brain, and the safe removal of the device without damaging the brain.

Last year, Musk grabbed headlines by saying he was so confident in the safety of the devices that he would be willing to implant them in his own children. However, Neuralink has not yet started looking for volunteers for a clinical trial of its brain implants.

The FDA’s approval comes as US lawmakers are urging regulators to investigate Neuralink’s “over-hasty and under-prepared experiments” on animals. At the same time, the legislators are pointing the finger at the commission that was supposed to supervise the animal testing at Neuralink.

Scientists have tried many times in the past to control computers with their thoughts. As a rule, they made all kinds of helmets that were able to capture brain impulses and transfer them into real actions on the screen. In this way, for example, it was possible to pause playback, move the mouse cursor or adjust the volume.

However, these technologies have not been very reliable so far. And that’s why they never saw a massive expansion among ordinary users.

But that’s exactly what Musk wants to change now. According to him, the problem is primarily that the aforementioned helmets could not detect brain activity accurately enough. The solution is to be a special brain implant that is inserted under the human skull using a laser.

A special implant is then able to sense the transmitted neurons and turn them into a computer algorithm. In practice, thanks to this, electronics will be able to respond to our thoughts.

The moment you want to turn on your mobile, all you have to do is think about it. And the same also applies in the case of launching individual applications on the computer or any other activities.

The American visionary sees application first in the field of people with physical limitations, especially in paralyzed patients. Only then could the entire technology spread to ordinary users.