The implant company Neuralink has received the green light to begin testing a new brain implant. The approval was granted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the United States entity responsible for approving medical procedures and medicines in the country.
The equipment that can now be tested is the project Blindsight. Unlike Neuralink's original implant, which allows control of interfaces with mind commands, this device promises to “make people who have lost vision in both eyes and the optic nerve see again“.
The FDA classification of the implant was “innovative device“, a category given only to certain projects that seek to improve the quality of life of patients. From now on, Neuralink has opened registration for volunteer patients who wish to participate in the experiments. Registration can be done on the company's website.
For now, Neuralink has not given any timelines for the start of testing or the date of the implant surgery.
High but controlled expectations
Neuralink founder Elon Musk shared the news and thanked the FDA for the approval in a post on social network X, formerly Twitter.
In the post, the billionaire also explained in general terms how the brain chip works. Instead of completely restoring a person's vision, the first models of the implant will be “low resolution, like Atari graphics“.
Geordi La Forge, character from Star Trek.Source: Paramount
The idea for the future, however, is that it has the potential to “be better than natural vision” e “allow you to see infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths“. Musk compared the technology's operation to the special glasses worn by the character Geordi La Forge, from Star Trek: The Next Generationplayed by LeVar Burton.
Neuralink recently confirmed that the second brain chip implant in humans was a success. The volunteer in question was even able to use 3D modeling software and play simple computer games. The first surgical procedure was also successful, but the chip later developed some defects.