Neuralink, billionaire Elon Musk’s company dedicated to connecting brains with machines, announced Thursday that it has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct its first human clinical studies.
“This is the result of incredible work done by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people,” the company posted on its Twitter account.
Neuralink clarified that recruitment for its clinical trial “is not open yet.”
The FDA has not commented on the approved clinical trial. And the extent of it is unknown.
Neuralink was founded in 2016 and primarily funded by Musk to develop a new type of technology for the interconnection between human brains and computing devices.
Installing a chip in the human brain could restore function to limbs, improve human movement, solve problems related to hearing and vision, and contribute to the cure of diseases such as Parkinson’s, according to the company.