Neuralink, the artificial intelligence chip that will help humans in many ways, such as restoring full-body functionality to someone who has a spinal cord injury, will be available to be placed inside humans from 2022, according to said Tesla Motors (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and co-founder of the brain-machine interface technology company.
The chip is pending FDA approval to become the first human-implanted device that will be able to restore full-body functionality in people with spinal cord injuries. Musk said the benchmarks his company uses are much higher than FDA standards.
“I think we have an opportunity, and I emphasize an opportunity, to be able to allow someone who cannot walk or use their arms to walk naturally again,” he said in an interview.
Isn’t 2022 too soon?
The date, which seems remarkably close for something that still sounds like science fiction to us, but Musk hopes to begin human testing this coming year.
The device is supposed to allow patients with no control over their limbs to interact with digital devices with similar technologies, which will allow quadriplegics to order purchases, communicate with friends and surf the web directly with brain waves.
“We hope to have this in our first humans, who will be people with severe spinal cord injuries as tetraplegics, tetraplegics, next year, pending FDA approval. I think we have the ability to allow someone who can’t walk or use their arms to walk again, but not naturally, “Musk clarifies.
The Neuralink system is made up of a computer chip connected to tiny flexible threads that a ‘sewing machine-like’ robot sews together in the brain. The electrodes are then connected to a larger array called the Link , which can process, stimulate, and transmit neural signals. It charges by wireless charging from outside the head and connects wirelessly.
Musk says the technology, which involves removing a chunk of the skull to install the electrodes, leaving only a small scar, has been shown to be safe in the brain and can be easily removed, so the only thing stopping Neuralink from trials in Humans is FDA approval. It also revealed that the technology could become a complete brain interface in just 25 years, allowing for ‘symbiosis’ between humans and AI.
Neuralink isn’t the only company developing a brain interface device. Last April, a device developed by BrainGate allowed a paralyzed man to control a computer with just his mind, and the results were extremely promising.
