This new device, according to the magnate, has the potential to cure blindness marking an important milestone in the search for innovative medical solutions.
Elon Musk has been expressing his continued commitment to research and development in this field, constantly seeking to improve people’s quality of life through neurotechnology.
According to Musk himself, Blindsight represents a step forward on this path, with the potential ability to restore vision to those suffering from blindness.
To expand on this news, Musk stated that “The Blindsight implant is already being tested in primates”, detailing that the first capabilities of this hardware would be similar to “the graphics of the first Nintendo game consoles.” However, over time, these benefits “will exceed normal human vision”.
In its inevitable share of irony, the message concludes by saying that “no monkey has died or been seriously injured by a Neuralink device!” This phrase is related to the report issued by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine at the end of September 2023.
In it, Elon Musk and the company he runs were accused of having sacrificed 12 primates due to complications arising from the placement of the implants in their brains.
Blindsight comes at a time when the company is at its best, after a video was released in which a 29-year-old quadriplegic patient is seen moving a computer cursor across the chip. Telepathy implanted in your brain.
Telepathy, Neuralink’s first brain implant
I should mention that the Blindsight implant is already working in monkeys.
Resolution will be low at first, like early Nintendo graphics, but ultimately may exceed normal human vision.
(Also, no monkey has died or been seriously injured by a Neuralink device!)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024
Precisely, the announcement of Blindsight comes after the success of the company’s first brain chip, called Telepathy which has been shown to be effective in communication between the brain and external devices.
On February 21 of this year, Elon Musk surprised the world by stating that Neuralink had successfully placed one of its devices on a human being.
“It appears that the patient recovered completely (from the implantation) without adverse effects,” Musk said in an interview broadcast on his X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
Since the approval of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the implantation of chips in humans in September 2023, Neuralink has been working on the development of revolutionary technologies in the interface brain-machine.
Additionally, he is able to “move the mouse cursor around the screen just by thinking,” he revealed.
“We try to make as many button presses as possible come from thought,” the tycoon added. “You want to have, obviously, more than just two buttons,” he had said.
Neuralink’s revolutionary technology works through a device the size of five stacked coins that is placed inside the human brain through invasive surgery.
Until now, brain implants have been developed in only one direction: from the brain to the outside (generally a computer that processes the signals), but the Neuralink project aims to be able to also transfer information in the other direction, towards the brain.