After bringing incredible change in the automobile and space industry with his companies, Elon Musk is no out to revolutionise the neurotechnology sector with his company Neuralink. Neuralink is all set for human trials of its brain chip implantation, with thousands expressing willingness in receiving one. For a while now, this startup of Elon Musk has been working on a brain-computer interface that can be implanted inside a person’s brain to enable him or her to control a computer or a mobile device.

After getting a clean chit from the US FDA, Elon Musk’s startup is gearing up to commence human trials in the coming months. A clinical trial of Neuralink’s brain implant will need volunteers to get a portion of their skull replaced by a surgeon with a brain chip that’s will then stay there for years. There seems no dearth of volunteers. Bloomberg has reported that thousands have expressed willingness to get brain chip of Neuralink implanted into their brains. The brain chip will be capable of reading and analysing the person’s brain activity, and very easily transfer the information wirelessly to a laptop or tablet kept is close proximity, BB has reported.

Just months ago, Neuralink had come under the scanner of quite a few agencies for violating the Animal Welfare Act after testing its device on animals. It has been alleged that animal trials of the brain chip killed around 1,500 animals since 2018, reported Reuters. Nonetheless, the company has now received approval from the US FDA to start human trials of its brain chips. Elon Musk had once described the chip as a “Fitbit in your skull,” as per a report of Business Insider.

What is Neuralink?

Neuralink is a leading neurotechnology company and is developing a brain-computer interface (BCI), to collect brain signals. BCI will also be capable of analysing the data and translate them into commands that can control an external device.

Author Ashlee Vance in his Bloomberg article stated that he visited Neuralink’s facilities 10 times in three years. He also informed that the company is yet to implant its device in a human brain. Nevertheless, it plans to start its trial on 11 people next year and on more than 22,000 by 2030. Point to be noted here is that Vance is Elon Musk’s biographer.

Enrolment of volunteers for Neuralink’s’ brain chip human trials started in September. In its statement, Neuralink said that it is looking for people who had paralysis in all of the four limbs because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or spinal cord injury.