Six months. That is the period in which the Neuralink company might be ready to implant a brain chip in humans, according to what was indicated by the owner of said firm, Elon Musk.
The Neuralink company may be ready to implant a brain chip in humans within six monthsannounced a few days ago its founder and owner, Elon Musk, in a conference from his headquarters in Fremont, California.
The process, Musk said, is advanced in terms of the necessary permits from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which authorizes all types of medical devices on the market, including brain devices.
So far, the FDA has worried regarding him possible overheating of the implant (which includes microwires in brain tissue), as they might result in the leakage of chemical elements from the implant into the brain mass, Musk clarified in the question session.
The function of the implant will be to “read” brain activityto be able to transmit orders that help to restore some severely damaged brain functions following a heart attack or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which result in serious damage to communication skills.
In this sense, Elon Musk showed a video where a monkey is seen with one of those brain chip implants, and which is apparently capable of moving a cursor on a screen towards some letters. “He is moving the cursor with his mind,” Musk said. “It’s not that I can write, I don’t want to exaggerate.”he pointed.
the implant it will be the size of a coin and its installation will require removing a similar volume of the brainwhich differentiates it from other devices tested by neurological companies that have proposed similar devices without such an invasive intervention, according to the Bloomberg agency.
“Hypothetically, I might have the device implanted right now and you wouldn’t even notice”Musk said at the conference.
Until now, brain implants have only been developed in one direction: from the brain to the outside (usually a computer that processes the signals), but the Neuralink project aims to be able to transfer information in the other direction as well, towards the brain.
Neuralink is developing two types of implants in parallel, one to restore vision “even in those who have never had it” and another to restore basic bodily functions in people with paralysis due to damage to the spinal cord.
