Elon Musk’s brain-implant business, Neuralink, has announced that its first-in-human clinical trial has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), glamsquad reports
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The FDA approval “represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people,” Neuralink announced on Thursday night, May 25. It did not go into detail about the study’s objectives.
Musk’s Neuralink claims that brain implants could heal a variety of diseases such as obesity, autism, depression, and schizophrenia, as well as enable online browsing and telepathy.
Neuralink has utilized macaque monkeys in testing while the company has been creating Bluetooth-enabled implantable chips – placed into the monkeys’ brains – that the company claims can communicate with computers via a small receiver.
Neuralink claimed in April 2022 that monkeys can play Pong, a computer game, using only their wits when it published a video of Pager, a male macaque, manipulating a cursor onscreen without using a joystick.
Musk made news late last year when he declared he was so sure the devices were safe that he would implant them in his children.
Musk has anticipated that Neuralink would commence human trials at least four times since 2019, however the FDA denied the application in 2022.
According to the employees, the FDA had raised various problems with Neuralink that needed to be rectified before human trials could be approved. The gadget’s lithium battery, the potential of the implant’s wires moving within the brain, and the difficulties of properly retrieving the device without injuring brain tissue were all major issues.