Elon Musk’s Neuralink Will Launch Trials in Humans. But Scientists Are Concerned

Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s startup Neuralink is getting ready to begin clinical trials in humans, The Guardian reported.

Founded back in 2016, Neuralink plans to implant brain chips in human brains. Musk has explained how the chips in question would provide convenience. According to Musk, the attempt “will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs”.

The world’s richest person with about $218 billion net worth according to Forbes is hopeful that tetraplegic people will benefit from the implants. Tetraplegia is described as “the inability to voluntarily move the upper and lower parts of the body.”

“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 — Food and Drug Administration — approval,” Musk said during the CEO Council summit organized by Wall Street Journal.

Credit: Neuralink

A macaque monkey named Pager implanted by a Neuralink showed up while playing Pong with its mind. San Francisco-based company is now hiring a director who will oversee clinical trials in humans, according to The Guardian.

“I think we have a chance with Neuralink to restore full-body functionality to someone who has a spinal cord injury,” Musk said. “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.”

Elon Musk’s project with brain chips: Neuralink

However, scientists are cautious about what Elon Musk aims to do to humans. Speaking to The Daily Beast, a group of researchers said they were not convinced. “I don’t think there is sufficient public discourse on what the big picture implications of this kind of technology becoming available are,” Dr. Karola Kreitmair, assistant professor of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, pointed out.

“I worry that there’s this uncomfortable marriage between a company that is for-profit.”

Neuralink intends to ease the life of those who suffer from disabilities, especially the startup is determined to enable paralyzed people to use their computers and smartphones easily and says it will do this with the help of brain activities. The scientists in question, on the other hand, worry that the Neuralink project could be exploited.

Medium photo

“If the ultimate goal is to use the acquired brain data for other devices, or use these devices for other things—say, to drive cars, to drive Teslas—then there might be a much, much bigger market,” Dr. Syd Johnson, associate professor in the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University, told the website. “But then all those human research subjects—people with genuine needs—are being exploited and used in risky research for someone else’s commercial gain.”

To note, Musk’s Neuralink is not alone in that field. Synchron and Neurable also work to develop brain-computer interfaces.

“With these companies and owners of companies, they’re kind of showmen,” Dr. Laura Cabrera, neuroethics researcher at Penn State, said. “They’ll make these hyperbolic claims, and I think that’s dangerous because I think people sometimes believe it blindly.”

Referring to Elon Musk who is also concerned about crewed missions to Mars due to population collapse, she added, “I’m always cautious about what he says.”