Cyborgs cancelled - FDA won't allow Musk to test Neuralink chips, that killed animals, on humans

In December 2022, it was reported that the USDA had launched an investigation against Neuralink over animal testing. This came just days after Elon Musk announced that Neuralink would receive approval to begin testing chips on humans within six months.

Here's What We Know

At an event in late November 2022, Elon Musk announced that he had sent all the documents required to start human clinical trials to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Two months later, it became known that the FDA did not approve the idea.

The regulator's main concerns relate to the operation of the battery system used in the brain-computer interface (BCI). The FDA believes that if the device fails, the current discharge could fry nearby brain tissue.

Another complaint by the FDA concerns the procedure for removing the BCI to upgrade or replace it with a new chip. The Neuralink development has 64 very thin, flexible filaments that are implanted into the brain. It takes about 15 minutes to do this. The regulator believes that when the chip is removed, some of the filaments could tear off and start moving around in the brain with the risk of getting lodged in the brain.

Elon Musk's company will now need to convince the FDA that the development is safe for humans. The chips have previously been tested on pigs. That said, last year Reuters news agency said after speaking to current and former Neuralink employees that around 1,500 animals had died in the experiments.

Source: Engadget