Elon Musk says Neuralink will start implanting chips in the human brain by 2022

Elon Musk, who has his fingers in many pies, revealed that his brain-interface technology company Neuralink will start implanting chips into the brains of humans by 2022. While talking at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit on Tuesday, December 7, the Tesla and SpaceX chief updated about the status of Neuralink and stated that the chip is working fine in monkeys. Earlier in April, the company had shared a video of a monkey, implanted with the chip, playing ping-pong with his mind. Speaking about the development, Musk was reported saying as per Daily Mail-

Neuralink's working well in monkeys and we're actually doing just a lot of testing and just confirming that it's very safe and reliable and the Neuralink device can be removed safely. We hope to have this in our first humans next year. I think we have a chance of being able to allow someone who cannot walk or use their arms be able to walk again, but not naturally.

Talking about the monkey that became an internet sensation after his 'mind pong' video, Musk said that the animal, despite having a chip in his brain, looked normal and added that playing the game telepathically is "profound'. Further in his interview, he stated that the only thing keeping Neuralink away from human trials is the approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the chip, which can also be removed, has proven to be safe. "Our standards for implanting the device are higher than what the FDA approves, just like our standards for safety are much higher than what the US government requires," Daily Mail reported Musk as saying. Although 2022 seems too early, Neuralink is already past its deadline as Musk had said in 2019 that his company will begin human trials by 2020 end. 

Replying to a tweet on Monday, Musk, however, clarified his stance as he wrote, "I am definitely not saying that we can for sure do this, but I am increasingly confident that it is possible."

What is Neuralink?

Neuralink was founded by Elon Musk in 2016 with an aim to create a human-machine interface that would help humans make direct interactions with computers. Once a chip is implanted in the human brain, people will be able to control the device only with their minds, irrespective of their physical abnormalities. According to Neuralink, the chip contains micron-scale threads that are stitched to the areas of the brain which control movement. These threads send different signals to those parts of the brain and direct them for specific actions. The company says that this type of brain interface can help people with neurological injury or disease. 

Image: AP