Musk: brain chip company wants to make implant – 06/16/2023 – Tech

Billionaire Elon Musk expects his brain chip startup Neuralink to start its first human trial this year, the entrepreneur said on Friday in France.

Speaking at the VivaTech event in Paris, Neuralink’s co-founder said the company plans to implant the device in a quadriplegic or paraplegic patient.

While Musk didn’t specify how many patients his company will deploy or for how long, “it looks like the first case will be later this year,” he said.

Last month, Neuralink said it received FDA approval for its first human clinical trial, a key milestone for the startup, which faces investigations in the US over its conduct of animal experiments.

The FDA acknowledged in an earlier statement to Reuters that the agency authorized Neuralink to use its brain implant and surgical robot for testing, but did not elaborate.

If Neuralink can prove that its device is safe in humans, it will still take years, potentially more than a decade, for the startup to obtain commercial use authorization, experts told Reuters. The company is also competing with other neurotech companies that have already implanted their devices in people.

But Musk has failed to meet deadlines for his public statements about Neuralink. On at least four occasions since 2019, he has predicted that Neuralink would soon begin human testing.