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Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, announced on the 29th (local time) that his neuroscience startup Neuralink has conducted the first-ever surgery to implant a chip into a human brain.
Musk posted on his X (formerly Twitter), “The first patient received the implant from Neuralink yesterday,” adding, “The patient is recovering well.” He introduced the first product of Neuralink as ‘Telepathy.’ He continued, “You will be able to control almost any device, just by thinking,” and “we will select people who have lost the use of their limbs as initial users.”
Neuralink has previously introduced on its website that they are testing Telepathy’s interface functions, such that a paralyzed person can control it just by thinking. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Neuralink’s first clinical trial of this product last May, and they have been recruiting participants since last September.
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Musk mentioned Stephen Hawking, a world-renowned physicist who relied on a wheelchair for life after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease at 21, saying, “Imagine he could communicate faster than typists or auctioneers.” He added, “That’s the goal of Telepathy.” Musk has been aiming to implant computer chips into the human brain so that it can directly communicate with computers. He emphasized, “Someone born blind who has never used their eyes will be able to see.”
However, Neuralink continues to receive requests for investigation related to safety protocols from the U.S. government and Congress. The U.S. Department of Transportation has fined Neuralink for violating regulations related to the transportation of hazardous materials, and some U.S. congressmen have argued that investors should investigate whether they were misled about the safety of Neuralink’s Telepathy.
By. Jun Ho Park
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