It's been several months since Neuralink, the Elon Musk-backed brain-computer interface company, received FDA approval for human trials. It has finally found its first candidate and the tech billionaire implies that the procedure has so far been a success.
Neuralink's First Human Trial
There are still a lot of doubts surrounding brain implants since even one mistake can severely damage one of the most sensitive organs in the human body. Despite that, it looks like Neuralink is making good progress with its technology.
Neuralink founder Elon Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the first human received an implant from Neuralink and the "recovering well." In addition to that, Musk claims that the initial results show promising neuron spike detection.
It's been a while since the company has been searching for a volunteer. Announced around September 2023, Neuralink was looking for people who had lost motor abilities due to medical conditions and who were willing to undergo the procedure.
Once the brain implant has been surgically installed, several benefits are meant to be provided to people with mental and physical disabilities. According to Gizmodo, the first operation is part of a trial that will test whether the implant will be safe and effective.
Furthermore, it will also test whether the current method for implanting the chip will be able to get the job done, especially since most of the procedure will be conducted by a robot called R1, which will suture the wires of the implant on the person's brain.
As for the surgery, a human surgeon will cut a hole into the patient's skull first. The R1 will then apply the brain implant directly onto the brain where the piece of their skull used to be. From there, the person's scalp with be the only thing covering the implant.
Previous Trials
Before Neuralink managed to move on to human trials, it first had to conduct tests on animals to see how the brain implant would do. Sadly, there have been accusations thrown at the company, stating that it has mistreated its animal test subjects.
Back in December 2022, Vox reported that Neuralink was under federal investigation due to the brain-interface company violating the Animal Welfare Act. A whistleblower revealed that the company has killed 1,500 animals since 2018.
280 of those animals were said to be monkeys, pigs, and sheep. In one case in 2017, Neuralink conducted experiments on monkeys at the University of California Davis where a monkey vomited severely to the point that it had open sores in its esophagus.
There were also reports of Neuralink using unapproved adhesive to fill the space that was drilled out of the animal's skull in order to implant the brain chip. This resulted in them suffering from brain hemorrhages.
In addition to that, animals also suffered chronic infections like staph infections where the implant was. The animals would self-mutilate and pull out their hair, both of which were signs of poor psychological health in the species of monkeys that were tested.
