FDA Rejects Elon Musk’s Application to Test Brain Chips in Humans

VIVA – Elon Musk's application has again been rejected by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding Neuralink's efforts to implant chips in the human brain. It is known Neuralink has made at least four submissions since 2019, to the regulators – All of them have been rejected.

As information, Neuralink is trying to make a chip that can be inserted into your skull and connected to your brain so that your neural signals can be accessed by a connected computer or phone.

It's hoped this interface widget will open up a world of computer-brain interaction as well as help people with neurological issues communicate, see, and move again with the help of software. Developing such a thing will require testing on humans.

A report said that the FDA identified 'dozens of issues' that Neuralink must fix before it can start testing on humans in the country. There are several safety concerns, including the wiring of the brain chip that can migrate to other areas of the test subject's brain.

The chip can also overheat and damage tissue. There are also concerns about how the implant will be removed without damaging the brain.

A spokesperson for Neuralink did not respond to requests for comment and said it had not indicated that its application had been rejected by the agency.

In December 2022, Elon Musk said that the company would be approved for human trials in the spring of this year. At the time, the billionaire said he was so convinced of the device's prowess that he would implant the chip in his brain.

Until now, Neuralink has not tested humans and has instead experimented with the device on animals, including pigs and monkeys. Last year, Elon Musk showed a demo video of a monkey with an implant.

The report comes after the US Department of Transportation said it was investigating the Elon Musk-owned startup following claims from animal rights groups that Neuralink had transported potentially dangerous pathogens by removing brain chips after they were removed from animal test subjects without following federal regulations.

Elon Musk co-founded Neuralink in 2016 as a brain-computer interface company. The company plans to implant chips into the human brain, allowing people to perform tasks using only their minds.

The billionaire has said in the past that the Neuralink chip – which is a coin-sized device designed to be implanted in the brain via a surgical robot – could one day do anything from curing paralysis to giving people telepathic powers, calling the device a 'Fitbit in your skull'.