Elon Musk, as we already know, has many irons in the fire. It is now clear that the entrepreneur may enter your head in the long run. Elon Musk, as is his habit, has big plans.
This also applies to Neuralink, whose implantable interfaces in the future are expected to address not only obesity, depression, and schizophrenia but now also paralysis.
Approval for Musk
This comes after Neuralink received approval to begin testing its brain implants. No, we are not talking about brain ghosts.
It was announced on Tuesday by Musk’s startup Neuralink that they have received approval from an independent review board to start the first human trials for brain implants.
The target group is paralyzed patients suffering from spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the study is estimated to take about six years to complete, according to Reuters.
Robot in the Brain
Practically, this means that a robot will place a so-called BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) implant in the part of the brain that controls motor functions.
The goal is then to operate the implant using a keyboard and control the thoughts of the subjects. It may sound dizzying, but it is nonetheless a reality. At least on a trial basis.
Could Take a Decade
Neuralink has previously applied to conduct trials on ten patients but faced obstacles when safety issues were addressed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
If BCI proves to be safe for human use, it is likely to take more than ten years before the technology is in widespread use.
The exact number of people who may be recruited for the study is not currently clear, according to Reuters.