Elon Musk predicted a clinical trial within six months, saying that the computer chip of the startup Neuralink, the company he founded, will allow blind people to gain vision.
According to Reuters and CNBC, Musk said at a press conference on the 30th of November (local time) that he expects to be able to conduct a clinical trial of Neuralink's computer chip within six months. He added that he plans to insert the device into his brain when it is ready.
Neuralink is a neuroscience startup founded by Musk in 2016. Along with Tesla, which produces electric vehicles, and SpaceX, a space company, it is considered one of Musk's leading innovative companies. In the early days of its foundation, the goal of inserting a computer chip the size of a coin into the brain to manipulate electronic products was both controversial and controversial.
Musk said at the presentation, "We are approaching the developed chip very carefully until we are confident that it will work," adding, "But now we have submitted almost all documents for clinical trials to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and I think we will be able to connect to the first human body in the next six months."
He emphasized, "Those who were born blind and never used their eyes will be able to have a vision." Neuralink's human body chip aims to make it easier for visually impaired people who have lost sight to regain sight or for physically paralyzed people who cannot move their muscles to handle digital devices.
In fact, Musk demonstrated a video showing a monkey typing on a computer just by thinking. The monkey sitting in front of the computer entered the sentence, "Can I have a snack?" just thinking. It is a way for a computer to decode data sent by nerve cells.
Neuralink also released a video of a surgical robot implanting a computer chip into a brain model. The robot implanted 64 microelectrodes in 15 minutes. It is explained that an electrode attached to the tip of a 1mm-long needle can be transplanted without damaging the brain.
However, CNBC quoted Xing Chen, an ophthalmologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, predicting that the future is uncertain because no device in Neurlink has been tested on humans or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Rather than suggesting a new goal, his remarks are said to be an explanation for the postponement of the clinical trial date rather than the one he declared.
Initially, Neuralink set a goal of conducting a clinical trial of a human body insertion chip by the end of October, but Musk postponed it without any explanation a few days before the target deadline.
Neuralink attracted the attention of academia in April last year by planting chips on monkeys' heads to make them play computer games just by thinking, but Reuters explained that it has not been able to produce results quickly enough to satisfy its owner, Musk.
In addition, as monkey experiments caused controversy over "animal abuse" at high risk, such as internal bleeding, paralysis, chronic infection, and death in severe cases, the industry is dominant in response that clinical trials will not take place in a short time of six months.
While developing technology sure is a valuable thing for humankind, we also need to see its side effects. It's important for humans to gauge the gain and lose when we are trying to implement technologies into daily life.
Writer: Soyun Lee
