Elon Musk's Neuralink gets permission to chip people

Neuralink founded Elon Musk and implanting brain chips, said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first human clinical trials. This decision was a milestone after a number of previous attempts to obtain permission, writes Reuters.

The FDA approval represents an important first step that will one day allow chipping to help many people, Neuralink said. The company did not specify the scope of the upcoming study and its goals, but added that the recruitment of volunteers has not yet begun. Details will follow later.

Musk is confident that brain implants will help fight a range of abnormalities in people, including obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia, as well as treat injuries to the brain and spinal cord, and even provide the ability to manage devices by the power of thought. At the end of last year, he even said that he was so confident in the safety of the technology that he was ready to implant chips in his children.

Neuralink has been talking about imminent human trials since 2019. But for the first time, the company requested FDA approval only at the beginning of 2022, and then the agency rejected the application.

The FDA pointed out several issues to Neuralink that needed to be addressed before authorizing human trials, the staff said. The main difficulties are associated with the device's lithium battery, the possibility of implant wires migrating inside the brain, and the problem of safely removing the chip without damaging brain tissue.

In 2019, Neuralink already tested its chips on monkeys. In April 2021, developers showed video with a primate playing a video game with the power of thought. Animal rights activists then began to accuse Musk of cruelty to animals, since, according to them, some of the experimental monkeys died.