Neyralinka, company Elon Musk dedicated brain chip implanttook it a step further. Although he was in the news last year due to the success of his device. Telepathy Two patients are now in line for a second chip, which aims to restore sight to blind people. It’s called Blindsight and just made the news for receiving Innovative Device status from FDA.
It is an American body that is designed to give the green light to the development and commercialization of drugs and food products. innovative productwhether a device or a treatment, is given to those products that are intended to treat life-threatening conditions. With this FDA label bureaucratic procedures are significantly accelerated clinical trials, so the time is entirely spent demonstrating its effectiveness and safety without a lot of paperwork.
This is something similar to what happened with the COVID-19 vaccine. Since it was vital to get it as soon as possible, the competent authorities in different parts of the world gave permission to speed up these procedures. However, the scientific part of the clinical trials proceeded normally. The same is expected to happen with Blindsight. Neuralink has already assured that Clinical trials will begin soon and that there are still a few years left before this process is completed. But Elon Musk’s company has taken a very important step. There is still a long way to go, but for them, all this is already a reason to celebrate.
What is blindsight?
Elon Musk recently assured on his social networks that Blindsight will help many blind peopleeven if they have lost both eyes and the optic nerve. Yes, it is necessary for the functioning of the visual cortex, which is responsible for processing information coming to it through the retina.
And this device catch the light which usually reaches the retina and sends a signal to a number of electrodesattached to neurons in the visual cortex. The result will be an image in which the number of pixels is equivalent to the number of neurons stimulated. Essentially, what is being done is to replace the role of the eyes and the optic nerve by replacing them with electrodes.
Elon Musk then assured that this Neuralink device will be gradually improved. Initially, the image will be of low quality, “as Nintendo’s first graphics” However, over time it will be improved until it surpasses human vision itself.
In July of this year two scientists from the University of Washington They created a computer model that generates images using blindsight technology. The goal was to check whether the result would actually be as Elon Musk predicted. However, what they saw was far from even Nintendo’s graphics. They compared the image resolution 45,000 pixels with one consisting of 45,000 cortical electrodesThe first one looked perfectly clear, but the second one was a blurry spot that was impossible to recognize.
In an image of a cat like the one they used as an example, the most that could be identified was animal silhouettebut other details of the scene will be lost. This is, of course, better than seeing nothing. However, these scientists believe that Neuralink is too optimistic about the scale of Blindsight.
FDA Trusts Neuralink
In March last year, Elon Musk announced that monkey testsIn 2022, Neuralink was embroiled in controversy over claims by several former employees that they were pressured to perform unsafe actions and that several test animals died as a result.
Aware of this problem, Elon Musk was quick to assure that none of the monkeys involved in the blindsight tests were harmed. That didn’t seem to convince many of his detractors, but it did convince the FDA, which has just granted him permission to speed up the bureaucratic process in human trials.
Next Steps for Blindsight and Neuralink
At the moment, the Neuralink website is only looking for volunteers with paralysis to use it. Telepathy deviceHowever, Elon Musk assured that the search for blind people willing to take part in clinical trials of Blindsight will soon begin.
If all goes well, within a few years there could be a chip in the brain that would allow blind people to see at least blurry blobs. Although it might not be exactly Blindsight, as other scientists are already studying similar devices. In any case, getting clear images will be a challenge. We’ll have to wait and see if any of the researchers who have joined the race succeed.
Source: Hiper Textual
