Will Neuralink Start to Implant Brain Chips in Humans?

According to rajkotupdates.news : elon musk in 2022 neuralink start to implantation of brain chips in humans, Neuralink, the brain-interface technology company founded by billionaire Elon Musk in 2016, plans to implant microchips in humans in order to record and stimulate cerebral activity simultaneously.

Neuralink hopes that, one day, its device can restore sight in blind people and movement in those with spinal cord injuries; but some experts remain skeptic.

Neuralink aims to restore sight in blind people

Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, is a brain chip company using micron-sized devices to link humans’ minds with machines. While its ambitions may seem lofty, Musk claims that Neuralink may one day restore sight in blind people.

The company reports making progress toward this goal and expects to file for FDA approval to conduct human trials within six months. As one experiment demonstrated, a microelectrode array implanted into a blind woman in Spain allowed her to see video images after several weeks of treatment.

Neuralink’s technology will take years and decades to prove itself safe and effective, so this leap forward should not happen immediately.

Before then, however, Neuralink must conduct clinical studies with severely disabled individuals to establish its efficacy before offering it as a tool to enhance the quality of life.

Neuralink will experience great success if they can demonstrate they can produce some form of vision. Doing so would demonstrate they can overcome some regulatory hurdles that have prevented other companies from creating medical devices.

Neuralink recognizes this is an enormous undertaking; however, there are only so few doctors with the expertise needed for such complex surgery in the world. Therefore, they will rely on volunteers willing to undertake this potentially risky procedure until this possibility can be made more accessible.

But if Neuralink can prove its ability to cure blindness, the company would experience another tremendous success for its shareholders and increase the company’s stock price significantly – giving investors greater value in Neuralink than it currently holds.

Neuralink wants to restore sight for people who are completely paralyzed, as well as those unable to move their arms and legs, thus helping them communicate with the outside world and perform daily routines again.

Neuralink aims to restore movement in people with spinal cord injuries

Brain-computer interface, or BCI, technology enables individuals with disabilities to use computers with their thoughts. Neuralink, based in Silicon Valley, is currently developing this BCI technology.

Since 2021, when they implanted one of their brain chips into a monkey skull for testing purposes, the company has been conducting animal trials of its BCI technology. Each coin-sized chip sends signals directly into the brain.

Neuralink hopes its devices can assist with helping those suffering from spinal cord injuries to regain movement. They plan to place two devices, one within their brain and the other below their spinal cord. In this way, signals captured from one can reach both arms even if their spinal cord has been injured.

At an “unveil and tell” event last week, the company unveiled its progress in developing brain-chip technology. At this event, scientists unveiled new developments with these chips – including one using more than 16,000 electrodes to transmit data directly into people’s brains.

Electrodes connected to wireless transmitters send signals back into the brain’s neurons, which in turn are used to retrain movement-controlling neurons. Now, the company is seeking a “clinical trial director” who will conduct trials in humans.

Musk has said he plans on beginning human clinical trials within six months once all paperwork from the FDA has been finalized, believing his implants could give people suffering spinal cord injuries a second chance at mobility.

Implants could also benefit people living with disabilities such as autism or stroke by acting as a bridge between various areas of their brains and improving cognitive skills.

According to Musk, these devices will allow people with spinal cord injuries to move their arms and legs as quickly as someone without such injuries, giving them more exercise while improving their sense of well-being.

However, the company’s impressive presentations may lead people with disabilities to get their hopes up too high and forget that these implants will require surgery and more involved treatments than initially imagined.

Neuralink aims to restore memory

Neuralink was established by Elon Musk in 2016 with the purpose of implanting brain chips that restore memory (rajkotupdates.news : elon musk in 2022 neuralink start to implantation of brain chips in humans). According to their claims, this technology may aid those suffering from brain injuries such as stroke and Alzheimer’s by stimulating brain cells that enable people to learn new cognitive processes again.

Neuralink’s technology is being created using a robot that sews threads as fine as human hair into brain tissue, a revolutionary approach which takes just 30 minutes and does not require general anesthesia; patients can return home on the same day.

At present, the main short-term objective of the company is to help paralyzed people communicate using computerized text without typing with their brains, as well as help those suffering spinal cord injuries regain their full mobility.

Neuralink has made great strides forward, yet still faces difficulties when it comes to FDA approval of their implant. Some current and former employees allege that Neuralink’s culture of setting ambitious development goals reminiscent of Elon Musk’s leadership style at Tesla and SpaceX creates vulnerabilities during the regulatory process.

Neuralink staffers told Reuters of an additional issue at their company – that experiments conducted to prepare an application for FDA approval may involve hastening experiments to collect data quickly in advance, potentially increasing animal stress and suffering, prompting federal officials to investigate its animal-experimentation program.

Neuralink officials have pledged to address all of the FDA’s concerns, such as overheating battery system that could harm brain tissue. Another serious worry, according to experts in brain implants, is failure of battery technology.

Six current and former Neuralink employees told Reuters that FDA has also raised concerns regarding whether the device can be removed safely without damaging brain tissue, as well as whether its battery could be charged remotely — something Neuralink plans on doing.

Neuralink may struggle to compete against rival companies that already have FDA clearance to start human trials, such as Synchron, which won the go-ahead from regulators for its BCI implant that helps those suffering from aphasia or speech difficulties by enabling them to type.

Neuralink aims to restore speech in people with aphasia

Studies published by Nature Medicine recently demonstrated that Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company, had successfully implanted chips in people suffering from aphasia – an extreme form of language disorder – so they can access brain signals to direct speech synthesizers in producing words which would otherwise be unintelligible to them.

This new technology could benefit those living with aphasia who have lost the ability to communicate, as well as those suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which causes muscle paralysis. Unfortunately, such devices won’t fully restore speech until patients’ minds can read entire words again and recognize them as part of themselves.

Musk recently held a live video webcast where he announced that his company planned to begin testing neural implants on human subjects within six months, and clinical trials could possibly start within the year.

According to the National Aphasia Association, aphasia affects two million Americans due to stroke or other brain trauma. It can be severely disabling and extremely frustrating for those affected as they struggle to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively.

One of the main concerns among those living with aphasia is whether or not this technology would benefit them. While vision restoration lasers only target individuals who suffer from vision problems, Neuralink’s technology aims to assist those suffering from communication disorders like aphasia.

Since 2016, this company has been working on this project, which is currently being tested on patients at a university hospital in San Francisco. The device used consists of small puck-like device with super thin threads carrying electrodes which are then placed directly onto gray matter of brain.

These electrodes are then connected to a computer through another link placed elsewhere on the body, providing high throughput communications and potentially augmenting them with sensors that read brain signals and transmit them directly to a computer.