Neuralink, Elon Musk’s start-up specializing in neuroscience, has successfully performed the first surgical operation to implant a chip in a human brain, its CEO announced on X (formerly Twitter).
“The person who received the Neuralink chip implant is recovering well,” Elon Musk said in a tweet on Monday, adding that the first results show good detection of neuronal spikes by the implanted device. The identity of the first patient has not been released.
Other clinical trials to come
Last May, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American equivalent of the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products, authorized Neuralink to carry out clinical trials on humans.
Since September, the start-up has recruited patients suffering from quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) to participate in these trials.
Last November, before trials had yet begun, Bloomberg reported that Neuralink planned to implant chips in 11 people by next year, and in more than 22,000 people by 2030.
Technological advancement or animal abuse?
Founded by Elon Musk in 2016, Neuralink aims to implant computer chips into people’s brains to record and stimulate brain activity to overcome disease or disability. At this stage, his main research focuses on testing wireless brain-computer interfaces to assess the safety of implanting chips and surgical robots.
In 2021, the startup released a video of a monkey with a chip implanted in its brain playing Ponga video game, using only his thoughts.
Neuralink is also accused of animal abuse. The company’s tests may have resulted in the deaths of too many animals, including pigs and monkeys.
Source: ZDNet Korea