Is it still possible for Musk's "human brain chip" experiment to be rejected by the regulatory authorities?

　　Chinanews.com reported on March 3 that in recent years, Musk has repeatedly promoted the concept of implanting chips in the human brain.

Reuters broke the news on the 2nd that Musk's company had applied to the US regulatory authorities for relevant tests, but was rejected.

Data map: Musk.

　　According to reports, although Musk has predicted many times since 2019 that his Neuralink company will soon launch a revolutionary human brain implant chip test to treat paralysis, blindness, etc., but the company did not report to the United States until 2022. A formal application is made by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

But the FDA rejected its application.

Multiple current and former employees told Reuters about the matter.

　　According to the report, the reasons given by the FDA include the safety of lithium batteries used in implanted human brain devices, whether the implanted tiny wires will travel to other parts of the human brain, and whether and how they can be removed without damaging brain tissue. equipment.

　　According to Reuters, a year after being rejected, Neuralink is still working to resolve these issues raised by the FDA.

But FDA employees interviewed by Reuters expressed doubts that the company would make progress any time soon.

　　The report pointed out that being rejected by the FDA does not necessarily mean that these efforts will fail.

Data show that in the past three years, among the human trials of various implantable devices, the approval rate of the first application to the FDA was about two-thirds.

If the second application is also counted, the approval rate is 85%.

However, if a company cannot resolve the concerns raised by the FDA after 3 applications, it will usually abandon the application rather than invest more time and money.

　　According to the Chinese website in the United States, so far, Musk himself still has great confidence in Neuralink's concept of human brain implanted chips.

He once described the prospect of the technology like this: Whether healthy or disabled, everyone will flock to community clinics to complete this short-term surgical implant. Its functions include treating obesity, autism, depression and surfing the Internet. wait.

Eventually, implanted devices could turn humans into "cyborgs" that could defend themselves against attacks from sentient artificial intelligence.