Elon Musk’s brain-machine interface company Neuralink hopes to put its first implant in a human subject in the next six months, he said during an event on Wednesday, November 30th. Musk said the company has been “working hard to be ready for our first human” and has submitted most of the required paperwork to the Food and Drug Administration to launch a human study.
The company, which is designing a device to translate the brain’s signals into actions, also announced that it would first focus specifically on two applications: helping people who cannot move their muscles to control devices or even returning full body functionality to people with severed spinal cords and restoring human vision, Musk said.
Although it’s starting with specific parts of the brain, Musk said Neuralink’s long-term goal is to create a system that can translate impulses from the entire brain into actions. “As miraculous as it may sound, we’re confident it is possible to restore full body functionality to someone with a severed spinal cord,” Musk said. Musk, who initially said the live-streamed event was primarily to recruit new staff, later called on viewers and audience members from various industries to consider joining Neuralink.
