Make the blind see, paraplegics walk and eradicate depression and schizophrenia. Nothing is too ambitious for Elon Musk and he wants to prove it with his company Neuralink. Since 2016, the billionaire and his teams have been working on the development of a chip implanted in the brain that would allow humans to transform into cyborgs and thus be permeable to all diseases and physical problems.
However, this ambitious innovation faces an obstacle: that of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US authority in charge of clinical trials, which for the moment refuses to allow this miraculous chip to be tested in brains. humans, he revealed. by the Reuters agency.
material problem
One of the main fears for the FDA is obviously the safety of this device. Equipped with a lithium battery, the prototype must demonstrate that bodily harm will not occur if the battery fails or overheats.
There are also concerns about wires migrating from the implanted chip, which could lead to inflammation, affect the function of critical areas of the brain, and rupture blood vessels. The FDA also wants to know if the chip can be safely removed, something Neuralink has yet to answer for sure.
At the moment, testing is only done on animals, but here again, the process poses a problem: By speeding up the experiments to wait for human tests as soon as possible, Neuralink would have led to the mistreatment or even death of many pigs. , sheep and monkeys.
Another problem: The Department of Transportation is currently investigating Neuralink to find out if the company illegally transported dangerous pathogens. According to information revealed by Reuters, the company would have transported chips extracted from monkey brains, without taking the necessary measures in terms of hygiene and storage.
Elon Musk confident
For his part, Elon Musk is eager to test his innovation on brains around the world. Dissatisfied with the legal hurdles posed by FDA approvals, the billionaire has repeatedly tried to extol the merits of his future implant.
like an episode of black mirrorElon Musk hopes his chip can be used to save and review past memories, communicate telepathically, and treat disabilities and diseases ranging from obesity to autism and schizophrenia.
However, Elon Musk’s goal remains to be first in the market for so-called “brain-computer interface” devices. But Neuralink still has one major competitor: Synchron, a company that aims to help paralyzed people type on a keyboard with their minds and has won FDA approval for human testing.
Difficult to get approval
However, at this time, no company has received final approval from the FDA to market such a product. Eventually, Neuralink officials want to produce a device with 16,000 electrodes, far more than the other devices currently on offer. At the moment, the first version of the implant provides only 1024 electrodes, similar to proposals from other companies.
Neuralink has been working in this way for a year and the latest rejection by the FDA to offer a product capable of being suitable for testing, desired for June 2023. The company hopes to obtain approval from the authority on March 7, but it is a sure bet that Elon Musk will have to (once again) revise his plans.
Source: BFM TV
