Elon Musk will get a brain chip installed in his brain! Know what is Neuralink project

The billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s brain chip startup is preparing to launch clinical trials in humans. Musk, who co-founded Neuralink in 2016, has promised that the technology “will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs”.

The Silicon Valley company, which has already successfully implanted artificial intelligence microchips in the brains of a macaque monkey named Pager and a pig named Gertrude, is now recruiting for a “clinical trial director” to run tests of the technology in humans.

“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, says. “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.”

It is an artificial intelligence-powered microchip that can read and record brain activity. It can be used to help disabled people move or communicate properly and for other things. Interestingly, the chip will also allow anyone with “paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using their thumbs,” which is something that Musk said back in 2016.

The company has reportedly made claims that the chip can read your thoughts and even let you talk to machines without opening your mouth. Currently, it is said that the chip can allow people to control basic devices like smartphones and computers.

The company has been working on this tech for a long time now and it has tested it on animals too. The Neuralink chip has been successfully implanted in the brains of a monkey and a pig. The company today announced that it aims to start human trials of a brain chip in about six months.

Musk, the world’s richest person with an estimated $256bn fortune, said last month he was cautiously optimistic that the implants could allow tetraplegic people to walk. “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 approval,” he told the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council summit.

“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.”

As of now, the company hasn't yet received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to sell the device and Elon Musk has said he is waiting for the government to give green light to his latest technology.