Musk’s chip to help paralysed walk starts human trials

ELON MUSK is preparing to launch clinical trials in humans of “brain chips” that could help tetraplegic people walk, in a new technology the billionaire likened to a Black Mirror episode.

A new job posting for a clinical trial director at Neuralink, Mr Musk’s neurotech startup, that has already tested the chips on animals, reveals that the company is preparing to take its research to the next stage.

The first practical applications of Neuralink’s technology will involve treating people with brain disorders and diseases, according to Mr Musk, who says it will “solve important brain and spine problems with a seamlessly implanted device.”

Mr 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 has already successfully implanted artificial intelligence microchips in the brains of a macaque monkey and a pig.

“You could solve blindness, paralysis, you could solve hearing,” Mr Musk said during a company presentation in 2020.

“You’ll be able to save and replay memories. This is increasingly sounding like a Black Mirror episode.”

He has since claimed that the technology will give people “enhanced abilities”, such as being able to stream music directly to their brain.

A 2019 paper written by Neuralink researchers described a brain-computer interface that used an array of “small and flexible electrode ‘threads’”, that are surgically implanted into the brain by a robot.

Neuralink has previously released a video of a monkey that had been implanted with chip playing the video game Pong using only its mind.