In addition to Tesla, SpaceX and most recently Twitter, Elon Musk is also the CEO of Neuralink. Neuralink is a tech brand that seeks to make some sort of interface between a computer and the brain. Regarding the progress of the chip, Elon Musk has made some strong statements. According to Musk’s latest promise, Neuralink tests with humans will start in about six months. However, this is not the first time that Musk is making such promises. Thus, whether he can keep to his word this time is another topic for discussion.
Over the past eight years, we have had several interviews with Elon Musk having “big talks”. If he is not talking about Tesla self driving tech, he is talking about SpaceX’s capacity. While Tesla’s full self driving is making good progress, it is still a long way from what Musk is promising.
As early as 2020, there were reports that Neuralink will start testing on humans. This is coming after successfully using the chip in a monkey. However, this did not happen and two years later, we are still talking about it. We must be careful when it regards Neuralink. The tech is complex and will involve several approvals.
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Recruitment for Neuralink
Neuralink has been trying to get new talents for the company. Elon Musk said “Often people think they can’t work at Neuralink because they don’t have a clue about biology or how the brain works,” He adds (via CNN). “What we really want to emphasize here is that you don’t have to, because when you break down the skills needed to make Neuralink work, it’s actually many of the same skills needed to make a smartwatch or modern phone work.”
The latest version of the implant has since been unveiled. The company also showed a robot that will perform future operations. Although successful tests have been conducted with a monkey, Neuralink admits that a monkey did not survive the tests. Also, the company is facing serious objections from animal rights activists.
According to Elon Musk, the company is trying to be careful and make sure everything is perfect before testing on a human. However, Neuralink will need the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which it is yet to get. Musk claims that the company has already submitted all the necessary documents. But given the sensitivity of the tests and the high standards in approving these tests, the approvals may not come anytime soon.
He needs to test it out first and I mean really test it for several months if not a full year (rather than the usual MO of getting his customers to do beta testing)