Elon Musk founded Neuralink in 2016. Since then, the company has dedicated itself to developing a chip that can be implanted in human brains to stimulate brain activity, as well as recording human implications related to health treatments, such as spinal cord injuries and neurological disorders.
During the entrepreneur's participation in the CEO Council Summit organized by The Wall Street Journal, he discussed the agency's plans for 2022. Next year, the company aims to test the chip it presented in 2020 in humans; so far, it has been tested in monkeys.
"Neuralink is working well in monkeys. We're running extensive testing and confirming that it's safe and reliable, and that the device can be safely removed," said the company's co-founder, referencing the video released this year showing a monkey telepathically playing Pong.
All that's needed for the company to begin implanting the microchip is approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to Elon Musk, the first people to undergo the tests will be those who have suffered a spinal cord injury. This will aim to provide them with alternative tools to cope with daily life, such as controlling elements with their minds; at the same time, they will study whether it's possible for them to recover motor functions lost in an accident, he explained.