Elon Musk's Neuralink Brain Chip Has Been Officially Approved For Human Trials

By Samantha in Science and Technology On 26th May 2023
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Elon Musk's Neuralink has been approved by FDA to begin human trials. A lot has been done over the years to make this technology safe to be used on people

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According to Neuralink's website, they are 'aiming to design a fully implantable, cosmetically invisible brain-computer interface to let you control a computer or mobile device anywhere you go'.

They added: "Micron-scale threads would be inserted into areas of the brain that control movement. Each thread contains many electrodes and connects them to an implant called the 'Link'.

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"The threads on the Link are so fine and flexible that they can’t be inserted by the human hand.

"Instead, we are building a robotic system that is designed to reliably and efficiently insert these threads exactly where the neurosurgeon wants them to be."

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Musk believes this type of technology will be groundbreaking for those who might be quadriplegic and cannot move much.

In an interview with TED's Chris Anderson, he said Neuralink would be helping treat brain and spinal injuries 'for nearly a decade', as well as addressing morbid obesity and other health conditions.

The tech genius said they have been working hard to ensure the Nerualink implant can be upgradable, is affordable, and is safe.

The most important part of this new technology is how safe it is to be used on human brains. It seems like the tech giant is now ready to move ahead with it as they already got permission from the FDA. 

The company's Twitter account says the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is giving them the green light.

"We are excited to share that we have received the FDA’s approval to launch our first-in-human clinical study!" it said.

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"This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people.

"Recruitment is not yet open for our clinical trial. We’ll announce more information on this soon!"

There will probably be no shortage of people who will want to sign up to be the first to try the incredible new technology.

Only last year in December Musk shared with his fans and followers that Neuralink should be able to get approval for human trials by the middle of 2023.

During a Show and Tell presentation, he illustrated how one of their test monkeys managed to learn how to move the cursor on a computer using just their brain.

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The implant was so small that it was difficult to see on the live stream and it allowed the animal to spell out words and say something.