Neuralink did not say how many participants.
To convey the power of thought
People are implanted with a chip in the part of the brain that controls our ability to move. The chip, which is inserted by the robot, will record and send brain signals to the app.
“The first goal is to enable people to control a computer mouse or keyboard using only their thoughts,” Neuralink wrote in an article. press release About the 18-month trial.
The chip is a so-called BCI implant, which is a direct communication path between the brain’s electrical activity and an external device, usually a computer.
Dozens of very thin wires emerge from the implant and travel directly to the brain. Signals from the implant are sent via Bluetooth to a computer, which can decode them and send the signals back to the brain.
Neuralink was launched in 2016 by entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is also CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc.
Musk remains the majority shareholder, although Neuralink has attracted significant private investment over the years and is currently valued at $5 billion.
Commercial use will take time
The ultimate goal of the experiments is to give paralyzed people full or partial mobility and/or improve their ability to communicate – all with the help of brain activity.
So far, Neuralink has only tested the implants on animals. In 2022, the company came into the spotlight when 15 chipped monkeys allegedly died while trying to get them to play a video game.
Even if the BCI chip is proven safe for use in humans, according to experts, it could take more than a decade to get it approved for commercial use.
In 2021, the US Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a a reportwhich outlined the agency’s initial thoughts on BCI devices and noted that the field is “rapidly evolving.”
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