Neuralink - a startup co-founded by Elon Musk - has planted new wireless technology into pig brains with the aim of helping people with serious neurological diseases, Sky News reported on August 29.
The American billionaire said that Neuralink company has 3 pigs, each with 2 computer chips made of coins planted in the brain. According to him, the transplanted pigs are "healthy, happy and cannot be distinguished from a normal pig".
Neuralink can predict the movement of animal limbs while running on a treadmill with "high accuracy" by using grafted data, Elon Musk said.
Billionaire Elon Musk described the sensor - smaller than a fingertip - as "a Fitbit in your skull with small strands".
"I could have a Neuralink right now and you guys wouldn't know. Maybe I have it" - the business billionaire said in a mysterious way.
The San Francisco-based company has applied for approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the project. The project is where scientists develop a micro- Implant tissue with more than 3,000 electrodes, attached to soft fibers 1/10 the size of a hair and capable of monitoring about 1,000 nerve cells.
Scientists hope that this project could go in some way to find a way to treat neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, dementia and spinal cord damage.
On August 28, Elon Musk said that transplant devices "can actually solve these problems", in which he mentioned memory loss, hearing loss, depression and insomnia.
Finally, it can also connect humans with artificial intelligence.
The Tesla billionaire has also warned about the risks of artificial intelligence (AI), but on August 28, he said that transplanted devices will "guarantee the future of humanity as an AI-related civilization".
The first tests will focus on patients with paralysis or paralysis of the lower limbs, according to Neuralink's chief surgeon, Dr. Matthew MacDougall. He did not say when the tests would begin.
Most advanced studies on brain and computer connectivity have been conducted in animals due to safety challenges and regulatory barriers preventing larger studies on humans.
In 2019, billionaire Elon Musk said he hopes to gain approval from the regulatory agency for human testing by the end of this year. While many scientists believe that reading and stimulating brain activity in humans is feasible, they agree that the time path Elon Musk has given is impossible, according to Sky News.
