Musk says brain chip to begin human trials soon – and plans to get one himself

Elon Musk said on Wednesday he expects a brain chip developed by his health tech company to begin human trials in the next six months.

During a presentation by Musk’s company Neuralink, Musk gave updates on the company’s wireless brain chip. In addition to forecasting clinical trials, Musk said he plans to get one of the chips himself.

“We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human,” said Musk, according to Reuters.

Neuralink says it is developing brain-chip interfaces that could restore a person’s vision, even in those who were born blind, and restore “full body functionality”, including movement and verbal communication, for people with severed spinal cords, reported CNBC.

The chip interface that targets motor cortex could be tested in humans as soon as six months, the company said.

The company does not have permission from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sell the device, but Musk said on Wednesday that most of the FDA paperwork for approval to implant the device into a human being had been submitted.

Neuralink has been testing on animals as it awaits approval on clinical trials.

During the presentation to invited guests, Musk said progress is being made on the wireless brain chip product despite previous missed deadlines, reported the New York Times.

“The progress at first, particularly as it applies to humans, will seem perhaps agonizingly slow, but we are doing all of the things to bring it to scale in parallel,” said Musk. “So, in theory, progress should be exponential.”