Elon Musk touts human brain implant trial for the blind in 2025 as Neuralink patents Blindsight and Telekinesis
Elon Musk has promised before supporters that his brain-computer interface (BCI) company Neuralink will implant a chip in a blind person by the end of 2025, allowing them to see in low resolution.
The new BCI is called Blindsight, and Neuralink already patented the term, alongside the one for its original implant for paraplegics which it calls Telepathy, as well as a new trademark called Telekinesis. The Telekinesis term patent seems to be used interchangeably with Telepathy, though, judging from the description in the USPTO filing.
The way that the Blindsight BCI works is by implanting a patented array of tiny electrodes in the area where the visual cortex is, and tasking them with neuron activation to create visuals that the brain interprets as seeing, albeit in low resolution at first.
How low? Elon Musk previously said that Blindsight will be able to create 8-bit graphics like from one of those Atari simulators on Amazon, but later on, Neuralink will try and make the imagery more sophisticated.
"To set expectations correctly, the vision will at first be low resolution, like Atari graphics, but eventually it has the potential to be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths," tipped Musk when the FDA granted the Blindsight implant a Breakthrough Device Designation back in September, paving the way for human trials.
Elon Musk confirmed on stage that Blindsight has been implanted in monkeys and is working fine for several years already. Eventually, he reiterated, the new brain chip will allow for vision that is "superhuman".
The Telepathy chip is already undergoing human trials in three individuals with either spinal cord injuries or ALS, and 2025 may mark the first time the Blindsight BCI implant will restore someone's vision, at least to an extent.
