Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s brain chip startup is preparing to launch clinical trials in humans.
Per the Guardian, Musk promised that the Neuralink technology “will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs.”
The company has successfully implanted artificial intelligence microchips in two animals — Pager the macaque money and Gertrude the pig.
What’s next?
The company is now hoping to hire a clinical trials director to get started and they’ve already created a job listing.
- “As the clinical trial director, you’ll work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink’s first clinical trial participants,” the advert for the role in Fremont, California, said. “You will lead and help build the team responsible for enabling Neuralink’s clinical research activities and developing the regulatory interactions that come with a fast-paced and ever-evolving environment.”
- According to Aljazeera, it isn’t clear where the Neuralink chip is in the process but hiring a clinical trials director is the first step to getting the medical device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“We hope to have this in our first humans, which will be people that have severe spinal cord injuries like tetraplegics, quadriplegics, next year, pending FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval,” said Musk at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council summit, per the report.
- “I think we have a chance with Neuralink to restore full-body functionality to someone who has a spinal cord injury. 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,” he added.