Elon Musk is finally allowed to test Neuralink brain implants on humans

Neuralink, the company founded by Elon Musk, which is engaged in the production of chips intended to be implanted in the human brain, has finally received FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) permission to conduct clinical trials on humans.

"We are pleased to announce that we have received FDA approval to begin human clinical trials," the company said in a statement on its Twitter page.

Neuralink sees this as an important first step towards enabling chip technology to one day help many people.

The company has not yet started looking for volunteers to participate in clinical trials of the so-called "brain interface". The company promises to announce this later.

Neuralink develops implants to be placed in the brain near the cerebral cortex. Theoretically, they should enable paralyzed patients to control the computer cursor "with the power of the mind". And if they do work as intended, this technology could pave the way for entirely new bionic prostheses and help people who have lost control of their speech and motor functions regain the ability to communicate with others.

The implants have already been tested on pigs and monkeys. However, companies were not allowed to conduct human trials for a long time. There have also been problems with animal experiments. activists complained that these animals were being treated inhumanely. There were also complaints regarding the violations of the rules for the transportation of biological waste.

In March, the FDA rejected Neuralink's application for human clinical trials: experts identified dozens of problems that Neuralink had to solve before testing its implants on humans.

Elon Musk himself is so confident in the safety of the devices developed by his company that he claims that he is ready to implant them in the brains of his children.

It seems that there are quite a few people who want to test Neuralink implants on themselves. Starting in 2021, several paralyzed people have told Musk – including on social networks –  that they are ready to participate in experiments.