Elon Musk's Neuralink chips get green signal for human testing

San Francisco: Elon Musk's start-up Neuralink, known for making brain implants, has received approval from US regulators to test the chips on humans.

The company in a statement said that clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its first in-human clinical study is "an important first step" for its technology. "We are excited to share that we have received the FDA's approval to launch our first-in-human clinical study. This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA."

Neuralink implants are designed to let human brains communicate directly with computers.

In December, Musk said: "We've been working hard to be ready for our first human (implant), and obviously we want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device in a human." Recruitment for the clinical trial hasn't opened to the public yet.

Earlier, demonstrations of the prototypes were done in monkeys. At a presentation, the company showed several monkeys playing basic video games and moving a cursor on the screen.

The implants are the size of a coin.

The billionaire entrepreneur has claimed that the implants can be used in humans to restore vision and mobility. "We would initially enable someone who has almost no ability to operate their muscles... and enable them to operate their phone faster than someone who has working hands. As miraculous as it may sound, we are confident that it is possible to restore full body functionality to someone who has a severed spinal cord."

It also might have the ability to treat neurological diseases.