American entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced that his company has begun a clinical trial in which a small device is implanted in a patient's brain and connected directly to a computer. It is attracting attention as a technology that allows people with physical disabilities to operate computers.
This was revealed by Elon Musk on his old Twitter account X on the 29th.
According to this report, Neuralink, a venture company he founded, began a clinical trial on the 28th for the first time with a small device implanted in a patient's brain and connected directly to a computer.
Mr. Musk did not provide details about what kind of patient he was.
He explains that in the early stages the results are showing that he is detecting signals from nerve cells in the brain.
According to Neuralink, the small device was approved for clinical trials by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) last year, and is being used to treat patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an incurable disease in which muscles throughout the body gradually become unable to move. Recruitment of participants was underway.
Technology that directly connects the brain and computer is called a "brain-computer interface," and research is progressing at universities and companies with the aim of enabling people with physical disabilities to operate computers just by thinking. It is being