Elon Musk's brain-computer interface (BCI) startup Neuralink has reportedly received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct some form of "human" trials of its surgically implanted brain devices.
It's unclear what kind of trial Neuralink's tweet was referring to the only other information mentioned was that the company hadn't yet accepted applicants.
Neuralink was denied FDA approval for human trials in early 2022 due to several issues related to safety, and the company was reportedly working to address them at the time. The FDA's apparent shift suggests that such concerns have been addressed, and the company shou ld then be free to conduct limited testing of its surgically implanted BCI device.
In describing the capabilities of the BCI, Elon Musk said it would help solve certain medical and mobility problems. BCIs have been developed to treat a variety of disorders, such as epilepsy. They also provide quality of life services for people with disabilities , such as the ability to control a mouse cursor with eye movements or thoughts. Musk also said that the device will be developed for public use as a universal BCI, which allows humans to interact with machines through thought and protects us from being replaced by machines.
So far, Neuralink has only been allowed to test on laboratory animals such as monkeys and pigs. The company recently faced a federal investigation for alleged animal cruelty; however, Neuralink has denied anything wrong, and the investigation appears to have quietly closed. separate investigation into the alleged shipment of contaminated equipment is still ongoing.
Musk's vision of a hybrid of humans and artificial intelligence (AI) is one step closer as human testing progresses. So it may be time for developers and entrepreneurs to start thinking about applications and use cases for reproductive, surgically implanted BCIs. Musk also proposed that BCI could allow people to operate smartphones faster with their thoughts than with their thumbs. Recent research at the University of Texas has shown that AI systems similar to ChatGPT can already be trained to interpret brain waves to a limited extent. But perhaps the most interesting p potential use case for the cryptocurrency and blockchain community comes from Microsoft. Several patents filed in 2018 and 2019 describe a system by which wearable "sensors" can be designed to provide "proof-of-work"for cryptocurrency rewards and blockchain mining and validation.
According to one of the patent applications: "For example, brain waves or body heat emitted by users when they perform tasks provided by information or service providers (such as viewing advertisements or using certain Internet services) can be used in the mining process."
With a BCI like Neuralink described in its original research paper and a paradigm like the one described in the Microsoft patent, it should be possible to verify brainwaves locally, allowing proof-of-thought "proof-of-work" on its own.
