“This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people,” Neuralink said in a tweet announcing the approval. Risn’t open yet, so anyone itching to voluntarily have their skull preyed open by Musk’s company will have to wait a bit longer.
The FDA approval for human subjects marks a major milestone for Neuralink which up until now had been testing its devices in monkeys and other animals. Those tests weren’t without controversy. Last year, an animal rights group called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine publicized a complaint filed with the USDA
during trials. Some of the monkeys equipped with the device, according to the rights group, allegedly experienced extreme vomiting and exhaustion while others, overcome by stress, allegedly mutilated themselves. Neuralink has previously denied mistreating its test animals.Neuralink wasn’t the first brain-computer interface to receive FDA approval.
There are plenty of good reasons why a paralyzed or disabled person may seek out Neuralink or some other BCI company to restore physical functions, but it’s still unclear whether Musk’s long-term vision of chip-aided supercomputing cyborgs is actually desirable. Last year, 78% of US adultsby Pew Research said they probably or definitely would not want a computer chip implanted in their brain to process information faster.
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