Elon Musk says that his company Neuralink has implanted a brain chip into a human patient for the first time.
"The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well," he wrote on Twitter/X. "Initial results show promising neuron spike detection."
An article in Reuters explains the procedure:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had given the company clearance last year to conduct its first trial to test its implant on humans, a critical milestone in the startup's ambitions to help patients overcome paralysis and a host of neurological conditions.
In September, Neuralink said it received approval for recruitment for the human trial.
The study uses a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface (BCI) implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move, Neuralink said previously, adding that its initial goal is to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone.
Given Musk's colossal failure with Twitter/X and the problems and recalls he's been having with Tesla, it's amazing he found someone willing to let him put one of his gadgets in their brain.
And Neuralink's technology has had its own problems, as well as raising serious ethical concerns.
The company was valued at about $5 billion last June, but four lawmakers in late November asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Musk had misled investors about the safety of its technology after veterinary records showed problems with the implants on monkeys included paralysis, seizures and brain swelling.
Musk wrote in a social media post on Sept. 10 that "no monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant." He added that the company chose "terminal" monkeys to minimize risk to healthy ones.
