Elon Musk Expects Neuralink's 'Brain Chip' To Begin Human Trials In Six Months

Musk said a wireless device from Neuralink is likely to begin human clinical trials in six months, and one of its first targeted applications is restoring vision.

Billionaire and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who owns neurotechnology company Neuralink, on Wednesday said a wireless device developed by the company is likely to begin human clinical trials in six months. 

One of its first targeted applications is restoring vision, Musk said, according to the news agency Reuters. The company, based in San Francisco Bay Area and Texas, has been involved in conducting tests on animals amid its wait for approval from the US regulatory for clinical trials in people.

"We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human but we've submitted I think most of our paperwork to the FDA and we think probably in about six months we should be able to have our first Neuralink in a human," the report cited Musk as saying in an update on the device.

What is the device expected to do?

The brain chip interfaces could enable disabled patients to move and communicate again, the company said. The first two human applications targeted by the Neuralink device will be restoring vision and enabling movement of muscles in people who cannot do so, the entrepreneur stated.  "Even if someone has never had vision, ever, like they were born blind, we believe we can still restore vision," the billionaire added.

Neuralink has been working on this product consisting of a tiny device and electrode-laced wires and robot that carves out a piece of a person’s skull and implants it into the brain.

DJ Seo, Neuralink’s vice president of implants, also displayed the latest iteration of the company’s device saying it’ll be wireless and rechargeable, reported CNN. He also shared footage of a robot built to perform the implant surgery and also took through a demonstration of what that surgery could look like. Seo also noted that manufacturing and a test clinic were being set up in Austin, Texas, as per the report.

The last public presentation that took place more than a year ago involved a monkey with a brain chip that played a computer game by thinking alone. Musk aims to create a chip that would allow the brain to control complex electronic devices that can aid people with paralysis to regain motor function and treat brain diseases such as Parkinson’s, dementia, and Alzheimer’s. Not only this, but the ambitious entrepreneur also talks about melding the brain with artificial intelligence.

However, the company is running behind schedule. In a 2019 presentation, Musk said it was aiming to receive regulatory approval by the end of 2020. Later in 2021, he said he hoped to start human trials this year.