Neuralink now may wire human brains to computers for study and will soon be looking for volunteers.

The biotech company Neuralink, based in California, has obtained the approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to put implants in human brains for the first trials on living people. 

Founded by Elon Musk and a team of scientists and engineers in 2016, Neuralink said in late May the FDA’s approval means it can launch its "first-in-human clinical study" involving brain chips and computer/human brain interfaces. Although recruitment has not started yet, the company has created a section on its website for patient registration for the future experiments. 

The FDA’s decision comes after years of denial of the right to conduct trials on humans, citing safety concerns for patients such as device overheating or moving wires.

Neuralink therefore limited its experiments mainly on pigs and monkeys, which would not allow it to achieve the stated goals of doing physical tasks using their minds and treating certain medical conditions.

Neuralink’s brain-computer interface is fully implantable, cosmetically invisible, and designed to let you control a computer or mobile device anywhere patients go. Its advanced, customized, low-power chips transmit the neural signals wirelessly to a special application, which decodes the data stream into actions and intents.

Although much of its work is classified, a Neuralink team revealed in 2019 the technology they had been working on: It is a system that involves ultra-thin probes that will be inserted into the brain, a neurosurgical robot that will perform the operations and a high-density electronic system capable of processing information from neurons. It is based on technology developed by two Californian universities.

According to Musk, Neuralink’s effort is aimed primarily at helping people with severe neurological conditions such as paralysis, epilepsy, Parkinson’s and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His critiques claim he is trying to achieve brain upload and, ultimately, immortality.

Other companies that are active in this sector are Neurotech, Kernel, Neurable, BrainCo, MindMaze, Paradromics, Neurosity, BrainUp, Synchron.