Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink has started looking for test subjects for human trials. At first, it will be tested whether brain implants can be used to control movement with screens and a keyboard.
Businessman Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink begins looking for subjects for human trials in the United States. Initially, the brain implants are tested by paralyzed people.
Neuralink’s robot installs the implant in the subjects’ brains. The implant would be in the part of the brain that controls movement. The purpose of the implant is to record and send brain signals to a program that could theoretically use them to move, for example, a cursor on the screen or use a virtual keyboard.
The six-year tests are looking for people who are quadriplegic due to spinal cord damage or ALS. The matter was reported by, among others, CNN.
Neuralink’s long-term goal is to develop a product that would help the blind to regain their sight and the paralyzed to move.
Difficult monkey tests
Neuralink is overshadowed by the unsuccessful testing history of its implants. The company has been the subject of three federal investigations. The technology publication Wired says in his recent story about the problems caused by the implants to the test monkeys.
Wired bases its story on the complaint of the non-profit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The complaint of the organization that opposes animal testing is based on the fact that Musk has described the implant as safe, even though the organization’s material suggests otherwise.
According to the complaint, Neuralink’s implants led to the euthanasia of 12 otherwise healthy young monkeys due to implant-related problems between 2017 and 2020.
According to Wired, the devices installed in the monkeys’ brains caused bloody diarrhea, partial paralysis and cerebral edema, i.e. swelling of the brain caused by fluid.
Among other things, the test monkeys started behaving strangely: pressing their heads to the floor for no reason or shaking uncontrollably when they saw the staff.
According to Wired, the brain implant of one of the test monkeys loosened so that the two screws holding the head of the implant could have been easily pulled out. The animal was euthanized due to complications from a failed implant. Neuralink did not respond to Wired’s requests for an interview.
Despite several investigations, Neuralink finally got permission from the US Food and Drug Administration to start human trials in May. The final confirmation came after the Institutional review Board, which is responsible for the ethics committee, approved the start of the experiments. So the company has apparently sorted out the problems described in the monkey experiments.