British patients to get Musk's Neuralink brain chip implants
Mr Musk's start-up, which has already conducted tests in the US, said it was launching a clinical study in the UK with University College London Hospitals and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust after getting the green light from UK medical regulators.
The trial will recruit seven patients whose movement is severely impaired from spinal cord injuries or neurological conditions, installing Neuralink's chip under their skull to communicate with a smartphone or tablet.
The company's N1 chip – a so-called Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) – is about the size of a 10p coin and connects to the human brain with 128 threads that are thinner than a human hair. These threads connect 1,000 electrodes to the human brain that can read electrical signals generated by neural activity, turning these waves into keyboard strokes or cursor movements.
Neuralink said: 'The launch of this study in Great Britain builds upon the successes of our trials in the US and marks an important step towards bringing our life-changing BCI technology to individuals with neurological disorders around the world.'
Last year, Noland Arbaugh, from Arizona, became the first human to be implanted with Neuralink's brain chip. He has since demonstrated how the chip allows him to control a computer and play complicated video games.
After his operation, however, around 85pc of the threads from his Neuralink chip lost their connection to his brain. The company was able to maintain a high level of performance using software updates to improve how the chip read his brain signals.
While Neuralink is initially aimed at patients with serious health conditions, Mr Musk has long claimed that its chips could ultimately lead to a kind of human-AI 'symbiosis', boosting the brain power of otherwise healthy humans.
He said on a podcast he expected hundreds of millions of people to have brain-chips installed, claiming it would give people 'superhuman abilities', allow them to 'upload your memories' or cure blindness.
Neuralink has already begun work on trials in Canada and the UAE, although the UK is the first country in Europe to launch a study of the technology. It has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
University College London said Neuralink's technology had the 'potential to transform the lives of individuals with neurological disorders around the world'. The operations will be undertaken using Neuralink's R1 surgical robot.
Professor Harith Akram, a consultant neurosurgeon at the hospital, said the launch of the study 'represents a major milestone in the development of brain-computer interface technology, with the potential to transform the lives of people living with severe neurological disorders worldwide'.
William Muirhead, a consultant neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology, said: 'This study reflects our commitment to pioneering therapies that restore function, independence, and communication in patients with profound neurological disability.'
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