Elon Musk's Neuralink project reportedly expands with signs of upcoming clinical trials in humans

Elon Musk may be best known as the CEO of Tesla, yet has ambitions beyond that, many of which branch into even more sci-fi-grade tech that might be seen as a future for humanity profoundly informed and powered by technology. Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs; also often known as brain-computer interfaces), encompassing the general concept of electronic implants for the human brain that allow their users to interact much more directly with the devices around them, are a good example of this.

Musk seems to genuinely believe in such a prospect, as he has established the company Neuralink with the apparent aim of eventually releasing such advanced biotech products. The firm is not hugely specific about their functions, besides the mention of a possible chip that might allow those with neurological disorders associated with spinal cord damage to remotely operate devices, or aspects of them such as on-screen keyboards, in the future.

Neuralink has indicated that it might have prototypes of the implants necessary to do so already, although they have been tested in a pre-clinical manner (i.e. in animals only) to date. However, it now seems the company might be ready to move on to the next stage from this - once it has its new Clinical Trial Director, that is.

The firm has also posted vacancies for staff members one might expect are required to design and make the actual implants themselves, BMI hardware and software engineers included. Therefore, Musk's vision of Neuralink-brand chips for the brain might just pan out after all.