Elon Musk's Neuralink Hopes To Implant Computer In Human Brain In Six Months

Within six months, Elon Musk's Neuralink Corp. hopes to begin implanting its coin-sized computing brain implant into human patients, the company stated on Wednesday evening at an event held at its Fremont, California headquarters.

The equipment, developed by Neuralink, consists of a tiny device, electrode-laced wires, and a robot that removes a portion of a person's skull and implants it into the brain. According to Musk, ongoing negotiations with the US Food and Drug Administration have gone well enough for the company to set a goal of starting its first human trials within the next six months.

Neuralink is already charging forward, aiming implants at various bodily parts, in typical Elon Musk fashion. In addition to the brain-computer interface, Musk disclosed work on two other significant products at the event. It is creating implants that could be implanted into the spinal cord and give paralyzed people the ability to move again. Additionally, it has an ocular implant designed to enhance or restore human vision.

"As miraculous as that may sound, we are confident that it is possible to restore full-body functionality to someone who has a severed spinal cord,"  Musk stated during the event.  he added.  “even if they have never seen before, we are confident they could see.”He continued,

The purpose of a Brain-Computer Interface, or BCI, is to initially enable thought-based interaction in people with debilitating conditions like Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or stroke survivors. A monkey "telepathically typing" on a screen in front of the company acted as a demonstration of this. The Neuralink transmitter transmits neuronal spikes into data that computers can understand. Musk believes that the technology could one day go mainstream and enable information sharing between machines and humans. He has long maintained that human beings need computer-like enhancements in order to keep up with the progress being made by artificial intelligence.